Little Stars
by OMGitsgreen
Summary: "However, having lived in a world so out of her control for most of her life, she just wanted to be able to be in command of herself." A young woman living and struggling with OCD, falls in love with a young man chasing his dreams. But life isn't as simple as just that. Modern AU Odesta
1. Violent Delights

Violent Delights

* * *

5:21.

Annie's alarm went off at 5:21 on the dot. Not at 5:20. 5:20 added up to seven and Annie wasn't particularly fond of the number seven. Seven was an odd number, and odd numbers weren't even, nor could they be divided properly and orderly, and the fact that seven was a prime number made it worse. Eight on the other hand was a good number. She didn't mind the number eight, and she wasn't opposed to the number nine either, even if it was an odd number. If she had lingered in bed and the time was 5:22 when she finally got up Annie wouldn't have been upset. Nine could be divided by three, which wasn't as good as a clean even number, but it was still fine.

She had to make sure she gave herself enough time to get ready.

Annie got up laboriously and yawned, cringing at the feeling of the cold hard wood floor under her toes. Happy she had managed to get herself up on time, she moved onto the next thing in her agenda. She stripped her bed of the sheets, tapping her bedside table four times with her index and middle finger as each sheet and blanket and pillow case came off, before folding them and placing them in her hamper. She took off her pajamas, starting with her sweatpants, then her tee shirt, followed by her underwear, each folded separately and then placed in her laundry hamper. She picked up her laundry hamper, from its place at the end of the bed, turning it counter clockwise then turning it back and placing it back down.

Then it was time to decide on what to wear. She checked her calendar, reminding herself that today was Friday, so it was a pink day. She made this guideline in high school to make sure that she didn't wear the same color twice in a row, because not only was that sloppy but the not knowing made her anxious. She always liked to know, it helped her manage.

She opened her closet and went to the blue section. Annie made sure to keep her closet organized to quicken the process. She pulled out three pink sweaters because it was November and it was certainly acceptable to be wearing sweaters this time of year, and a pair of jeans. She only had two types of jeans, all of them were skinny, but they were dark wash or light wash. Colored pants were in a different section of her closet, and she only wore colored pants on white days or black days, and so she assigned colors to those days as well.

She tried on both light wash and dark wash jeans, and decided on dark wash skinny jeans. With the cream colored cami she always wore on pink days covering her bra, she tried on each sweater before deciding on her light pink cashmere v-neck sweater. She liked cashmere best of all because it didn't make her itchy, and being itchy made her skin crawl and feel dirty, which forced her to wash off. And after deciding on this sweater, she took the two other sweaters she had tried on, folded them up and then placed them into the laundry hamper in turn. Following this, she walked into the closet, walked out, turned the light on and off again just to make sure before closing the door.

5:50.

Annie was doing well today.

Next part of her routine was the most stressful. Her hair always refused to behave, which was always the cause for tension. She would cut it all off, if only to lessen the burden, but Annie thought she would look strange with short hair. So Annie made sure to comb it thoroughly, taking time to undo every knot, before spraying it in place to reduce flyaway hair. She wiped down the counter to remove of her hair, because in her opinion nothing was more disgusting then stray hair. Then she took her electric toothbrush, squeezing out a pea sized dollop of tooth paste neatly upon her brush before pulling out her phone and starting her timer. She had to brush for at least one minute and thirty seconds, before flossing each tooth twice and rinsing with Listerine for forty-five seconds. She couldn't risk getting gingivitis, or even a cavity. Then her parents would have to pay for a filling, which would then put more strain on them and Annie couldn't even imagine how guilty that would make her.

She released a breath of relief as she finished that up, wiping her toothbrush on her specific toothbrush towel, and wiping clean the toothpaste from the tip of the tube, making sure that no toothpaste would congeal there before screwing on the cape and placing it back in its spot.

Annie tried not to wear much make up on the whole. It was one less thing to worry about. It was easier just to do simple things, like put on moisturizer, dab on a bit of lip gloss, and line her eyes and accentuate with mascara. She placed the containers and tubes back into their drawer, before washing her hands thoroughly. She scrubbed with exfoliating cream, rinsed, squirted exactly two pumps of antibacterial soap into her palms, lathered for a count of ten before rubbing over all the surface of her hand, making sure to get under her nails, before rinsing off.

She would be lucky to get through the day without repeating that twenty times or so, she hoped for less considering the weather was getting colder. With colder weather meant dry skin, and she would rather not use up all of the nice lotion Johanna had gotten her for her birthday today.

6:24.

Still doing good.

She brought down the laundry hamper, separating out all of the laundry into darks, whites, and colors, before separating them further into delicate and not. Then she proceeded into the kitchen. To her annoyance one of the cabinet doors was open. She hated that, especially when the rest of them were closed. Her family on the whole tried to be considerate of that, except for her brother Kai, who she was sure was the one who left it open. Lately Kai had been increasingly frustrating to deal with, since he had just entered that middle school phase of not wanting to be considerate towards anyone. And also taking into account that they had been arguing these past few days, it really pointed to him.

She closed it, before taking out a bowl and a spoon from one of the other cabinets. Out of the fridge she took out her container of milk and from the pantry she pulled out the Special K cereal. She took a deep breath as she poured the cereal into her bowl, and then the milk, feeling her heart begin to pound in her chest. She had just begun to eat out of bowls and use utensils that weren't sanitized. Before she would only use disposables, but she had been really trying to get her eating habits to normal. Exposure had been working, and she was taking baby steps to her goal of being able to eat at a public setting without having to go through the embarrassment of using utensils she had brought along, or having to ask again and again for servers to take back "dirty" cups.

Her hand was shaking as she placed spoonful after spoonful into her mouth, chewing slowly before laboriously swallowing, and she knew it was coming on, the swarm of mind-wasps that simply wouldn't let her be. They rattled inside her head, buzzed in her ears, stinging her brain again and again with intrusive thoughts, not allowing for a moment's peace because she was breaking the routine breaking it breakingitbreakingitbreakingit and she was going to dirty everything, everything was going to be tainted and it was her fault all her fault. She needed to stop or else she would get sick because there were germs on everything and then she would burden her parents even more or infect them or-or-or-

She forced another past her lips. Maybe this cereal will make me sick, but maybe it won't, she told herself sternly, the odds are it won't. The body had strong protections against illness. I'm fine, I'm fine.

She continued eating until the bowl was empty. The cereal was as heavy as lead in her stomach, as she cleaned the bowl and the spoon, before putting away the milk and the cereal. She washed her hands once more. Feeling shaky, but elated by this tiny victory, she picked up her keys from their spot on the counter, buttoned up her jacket, laced up her boots, wiping them four times on the door mat, before opening the door and closing it behind her, making sure to lock it.

Annie got into her car, noting that her car was half full with gas, and making a note to fill it. She hated when the gas got below a half a tank, it didn't feel safe. Then she stuck her key into the ignition and put the car into drive.

She took a look at the radio clock.

7:03.

The beginning of a good day.

* * *

Annie was a math major.

Math was good. It followed rules, just like the universe. You always knew where you were with a calculator and a pencil. It wasn't anything like English or Art, with so many different interpretations and "no right answer". Annie didn't know how people could live like that. There could be one answer or many answers or no answers in math, but "no right answers" just left this giant void to be filled. But regardless, Annie was very diligent. Just because she didn't like something didn't mean she would slack off in it. And considering her absolute hatred of all those sorts of subjects, she did fairly well in them. She accepted the B+ with considerable grace for a perfectionist, understanding that it simply wasn't her strength, and no matter how much she would've liked it, she couldn't be good at everything.

It didn't make anything better, though when she walked from her multivariable calculus class to her Shakespearean Tragedies and Romances class. She resisted the urge to growl in distaste. She had wanted to take microeconomics the semester, however when the time came for signing up for classes both micro and macroeconomics had been filled up, as Business and Finance majors got first priorities, and the only class she could fit in that would fill some credit she needed was the Shakespearean theatre class.

Sure she needed to get her Fine Arts credits anyways, but she would've rather put off the pain until later. She wasn't good at interacting with others at all in real life, let alone acting. The class made Annie want to hide under a rock somewhere. The teacher, Ms. Trinket, who wanted all of the students to call her Effie was also a nightmare. Not only was she touchy-feely, and acted like more of a friend to the students then a teacher, but she wore the most ridiculous outfits, layered on makeup, and had a voice that made her want to bash her head into the wall. Annie was sure that the only reason she had the job was because her family was the one who donated the money for the Fine Arts center to be built.

And of course once Annie had made her aware of…it, Effie was too understanding. If Annie had a lower standard of morals she would have abused that and had used it to skip. But instead, she just sat there in chairs as Effie fluttered around her muttering how tragic it was.

"Hey there Crazy! What's up?" Johanna Mason called, clapping her arm around Annie's shoulders as she walked into the Trinket Theater. Annie gave Johanna a withering look, shrugging off her arm.

"Not much." She muttered and Johanna gave her a wolfish grin.

"Oh don't look so happy to see me." Johanna said sarcastically running a hand through her pixie, "I haven't even done anything offensive yet."

"Sure you haven't. Congrats on the softball game. I heard you guys won against Umass" Annie said sincerely and Johanna laughed.

"Aw, I knew you cared. Don't act like you didn't go. Just because I was in the middle of kicking Minuteman ass didn't mean I didn't see you hiding in the bleachers, trying oh so desperately to blend in." Johanna teased, and Annie felt her face flush.

"I don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about." Annie said, and Johanna gave her a real smile, something that was rare.

"Thanks for coming. It meant a lot." Johanna said, bumping her hip against Annie, nearly throwing her off balance. "That won't be half as bad as this. Like totally fuck my life. I was hoping that there would at least be one hottie in this class, like a basketball player who needed the credits. But nope, just dumb girls, gay guys, and…worse…theater majors."

"You did say Thresh would be in this class." Annie pointed out as they turned the corner.

"I thought he would be too, but he's in the Shakespearean comedies class. I could deal with comedies. They're full of dick jokes and shit, I know that much from high school. But romances? Blech. Gag me." Johanna said sounding disgusted.

"I can understand." Annie said, tapping the door before entering. Johanna noticed, but as usual never said anything.

That's what Annie liked about Johanna. She may be abrasive, crude, and offensive, but she honestly didn't care about Annie's difficulties. When they had first met in Accounting 101 freshman year, they bonded over mutual hatred of the annoying kids in their class, who could barely figure out a calculator and were obviously just in accounting to please their parents. Due to Annie's problems, and Johanna's personality they had both had a hard time making friends at all, and had simply gravitated towards each other. Annie was grateful. She had really thought that she would have to go through college without any friends, but Johanna had enabled Annie to meet and become friends with her roommates in the quad she lived in, Katniss, Madge, and Delly who didn't mind her oddities or her quietness. In fact, they made her feel…normal.

Her goal was to live off campus with them senior year. It was a big goal, of course. Her parents had told her so many times that they would be glad to let her continue living with them for however long she needed, but she didn't want to cope any more, she wanted control. And besides, it was like her therapist said, having a goal was good. It helped her to push her boundaries.

Annie sat down in the chair next to Johanna.

11:22.

Eight minutes before the start of class. Annie felt the rush of relief she always got when she got to a place early. She absolutely could not stand tardiness. She didn't even like to think about being late, because her parents were paying for her education, and a moment that she missed of class was like a dollar thrown down the drain and she couldn't handle that and it would burden her parents and-

"Hey, you're following the rabbit." Johanna told her, the code phrase bringing her back to herself. Annie gave her a tired smile.

"Sorry." She apologized, but Johanna snorted.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not apologize?" Johanna said with a roll of her eyes as more students came into class. It was like an endless march, until the last tired straggler stumbled in.

11:31.

It was 11:31 when Effie finally arrived, and Annie could understand why she was late. Effie was wearing the highest heels Annie had ever seen, gaudy sparkling gold stilettos with huge pink bows, accompanied by the rest of her outfit of a hot pink pencil skirt, cream colored blouse, and hot pink wig.

"Good morning everyone! Today is the big, big day! Today is the day we start talking about Romeo and Juliet, the…shall I say it? Crème de la crème of Shakespearean tragic romances. Who doesn't love a pair of star crossed lovers?" Effie cooed, sounding absolutely ecstatic.

Everyone else…not so much.

"Oh, but before I do! I'd like to introduce a new friend who will be joining us! Finn, come on in!" Effie said, motioning her arm.

There was a collective gasp in the room.

"Finn" was tall and broad shouldered, skin perfectly tan. He had the perfect jaw, a mischievous dimpled smile, eyes the color of the sea, hair like honey with notes of gold, amber, and red, a straight nose, and a devious expression on his face, because he knew what he was doing to all the girl and the majority of the boys in this class.

Annie would've been included as well, if everything else hadn't been wrong.

His button up shirt was half unbuttoned, when it should've been one or the other, his jeans were stained with what looked like paint, his sneakers were dirty, his gorgeous curls were an absolute mess. The backpack slung over his shoulder was half-unzipped and had papers unceremoniously shoved inside.

11:32.

He was just casually strolling at 11:32. 11:32 added up to seven which was a bad number.

Annie didn't like this boy one bit. Not a single bit.

"Finn O'Daire has been at a swim meet in South Africa over the past week and just got back. I hope that everyone welcomes him with open arms, and helps him to catch up." Effie said oh so very happily.

"And dropped panties." Johanna whispered to Annie, causing Annie to need to bite her lip to contain her laughter, before explaining, "That's Finn O'Daire, he's the star of the Panem U swim team. I think on the Mockingjay Weekly they said he made Olympic trials."

"That's…impressive." Annie said, vaguely impressed by that fact, not that it did much to change her opinion on him.

"Please, find a seat Finn and let's get started." Effie said, and began her lecture.

The lecture was short, and Annie blocked out the whispering of the other girls in her class as she diligently took notes. She had three different colors of highlighters which she used to delegate her notes based on content, pink being important background/history information, yellow being important diction/syntax notes, and blue for imagery. She avoided touching the margins because touching them was messy, and if it was messy then she'd have to rewrite it all later and she dated the top of the notes as Effie finished speaking. Effie then assigned the students in groups to read a certain passage and over the weekend collaborate to come up with a page report on the scene.

12:31.

It was 12:31 when she left class.

If only the good could stay, she thought sadly.

* * *

Annie was sitting in the library two weeks later, trying to get some of her homework done when she noticed Finn O'Daire wandering around trying to find a desk. Annie ducked her eyes back down to her notebook, but either Finn had noticed her or noticed the fact that there was a chair right across from her because he walked right up to her.

"You're in my Shakespearean theatre class right?" Finn O'Daire asked and Annie looked up, pretending it was the first time she had seen him.

"Yeah, I think so." Annie said, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. But really she was so very distracted because his plaid shirt was buttoned incorrectly and his hair was sopping wet and she wanted to reach out and strangle him for it. She kept picturing it and picturing it and picturing it until she was forced to tap the leg of the desk in order to calm down.

"I'm Finnick, nice to meet you." He said, sticking his hand out. Annie blinked, honestly confused.

"I thought your name was Finn." She said with a frown, and he took the seat across from her retracting his hand.

"It is Finn. Finn Nicholas O'Daire Jr. My dad's Finn Nicholas O'Daire Sr. But anyways, when I was a kid, back in my eight and under swim team days whenever my mom would get upset at me for screwing around she would always call me by my whole name, eventually Finn Nicholas just sort of ran together and everyone started calling me Finnick." Finnick explained.

"That's cute." She blurted out, before biting her lip. He burst out laughing and her eyes flit over to her watch.

4:05.

Not as good as an even number, but it was still fine. Maybe she had the chance to salvage the situation.

"Why thank you." Finnick said, "Now since you think my name is cute I have the ability to pass judgment on yours."

"Annabel Evelyn Cresta. But everyone calls me Annie." Annie introduced and Finnick smiled widely.

"Annie. I like it."

"It's an old person name." Annie protested and Finnick's smile got even larger.

"It's a classic." Finnick argued and Annie sighed, not finding it within herself to argue any more. "Well, since we're now on a first name basis, do you think I could ask you for a favor?"

"Depends on the favor." Annie responded curtly.

"You wouldn't happen to have the notes from last Wednesday would you?" He asked sheepishly, "I missed class because of a swim meet, and we have a quiz on that stuff on Monday. If there's any way I can borrow them-"

Annie held out her notebook.

"I can photocopy it for you, if you want." Annie said and he just looked grateful.

"Do you think I could just copy them? I learn better when I write stuff down." Finnick asked and she sighed.

"Go ahead. Just don't…get anything on it?"

"Of course! I promise." Finnick said sincerely, "You're a life saver."

Annie rolled her eyes and continued with her math homework, she just finished reading half a word problem when Finnick gasped in awe, looking at her notes.

"Holy shit. These are like beautiful, and so neat! Your handwriting is like amazing, and you've even got it color coded…with book and internet references!" Finnick said sounding ecstatic. "You're like a God!"

"Thank you…?" Annie said, unable to help her flush.

"Do you think I could just copy your whole notebook and use it as my bible for this class?" Finnick asked and Annie couldn't help but snort again.

"The class is pretty easy, don't you think?" Annie asked, "I mean, I'm not good at that sort of stuff by any means but…"

"It would be easy if I could be there more often. I'm always away at meets and shit." Finnick said before smiling sheepishly, "It's pretty hard actually. I have to go to tutoring and stuff a lot, because swimming takes up a ton of my time and I'm not good at studying at all. And this class doesn't have any tutors or anything."

Annie had no idea what sort of madness took hold of her then, but clutching her pencil she suddenly said,

"Whenever you're going to meets…just let me know. I can print you out of my notes and help you out with assignments."

Finnick blinked, totally surprised before giving her the warmest, most gorgeous smile that sent butterflies erupting in her stomach and her heart racing. In that moment Finnick looked so perfect to her, that Annie really wondered what it must be like to be someone like him. To be someone so free must be a wonderful thing. However, having lived in a world so out of her control for most of her life, she just wanted to be able to be in command of herself.

Maybe one day she could dream.

"That would be amazing, thank you so much. You really are nice Annie."

"Don't thank me. It's not a big deal." Annie dismissed, trying to calm down.

4:11.

Much better.

They sat there in silence for the rest of the time Annie set out for herself to be in the library. She finished her math problems, turning it in on the website to her professor, did her computer science programs, and wrote a solid chunk of her paper for English that wasn't due until next week. It was exactly 6:45 when Annie began to meticulously pack up her things. Each pen she had used was firmly capped, and each mechanical pencil's lead was retracted before being counted. Onetwothreefour black pens and onetwothreefour pencils just like she had come to the library with. They went into her pencil box, before going into their specific place in her bag. Her onetwothreefour notebooks went were placed back in order Computer Science, English, Math, Theatre, then her lap top which was powered down, wiped quickly with a sanitary napkin, before being placed back into her laptop case which was also wiped down before being placed in her bag carefully. She zipped up her bag from right to left, never from left to right that just felt wrong. And finally she took out her hand sanitizer and squirted a bit onto her hand, rubbing it in despite the sting of her dry skin.

6:55.

"You going back to your dorm?" Finnick asked, and Annie jumped having been so absorbed in her ritual that she had forgotten his presence. To her relief he didn't make a comment.

"No, I live off campus." She said and Finnick smiled.

"Have a safe trip home." He said, "Thanks for all the help. I'll see you on Monday right?"

"Yeah." Annie said quietly before shyly waving, "See you…on Monday."

Annie had forgotten how nice talking to others could be.

She drove back home carefully, making sure to obey all of the speed limits. When she got home she parked her car in the same spot she always did, tapping the door as she left and the wheel with her foot before walking inside, tapping on the door, making sure she wiped her shoes thoroughly.

It was then she heard the talking.

"Mom, I want to bring Ashley here…it's just that I don't want her meeting Annie. I want her to think that my family's normal!" Kai said sounding exasperated. "Is there any ways I can bring her over when Annie's like…I dunno, at school or something?"

"Kai!" Their mother said sharply, "How dare you even suggest something like that!"

"Annie is your sister and our daughter, and excluding her like that is intolerable." Their father said sternly.

"Besides, Kai, if this girlfriend of yours actually likes you she'll stick around no matter how weird we all are." Their eldest sibling, Cora argued.

"That's so easy for you to say Cora! You were graduated by the time Annie got into high school. Everyone at school used to bully me because of her! Why don't you understand that I just want to be normal?!" Kai shouted, "If Ashley is coming over then Annie just needs to get over herself for one night! Why can't she just suck it up already? Why do I need to baby step around her?"

Before anyone else could say anything Annie opened and closed the door, slamming it so loud that everyone in the house went silent.

Annie didn't say anything, she just walked up the stairs, and closed her door and locked it.

She put the fresh linens on her bed, tucking them in on the right side and then the left side, right to left just like what was normal. Then she put on her blankets and covers. After that Annie pulled out all of the clothes she had washed from her hamper, refolding and putting some in the delegated spots, hanging others in her closet. Then she took off the clothes she was wearing, putting on her robe and grabbing her towel, she walked into the bathroom ignoring the yelling from downstairs and tapping the door as she entered. She made sure to turn the shower on then off then on to make sure the water was clean before allowing the water to warm up. Showering was always a process, she lathered right side of her head and rinsed, then the left side, before repeating both twice. Then she smoothed in her conditioner, after this she used her soap to lather from her feet to her neck before making sure to rinse off in the exact order she had done so. Finally she rinsed her hair out completely. After this she dried off in the same order she had rinsed off and soaped up, making sure to dry off thoroughly so she would slip and hurt herself and then have to go to the hospital because that would burden her parents, before putting on her robe. Then she took her electric toothbrush squeezing out a pea sized dollop of tooth paste neatly upon her brush before starting her timer and brushed for one minute and thirty seconds before flossing each tooth twice and rinsing with Listerine for forty-five seconds and had wiped her toothbrush on her specific toothbrush towel, and wiped clean the toothpaste from the tip of the tube, making sure that no toothpaste would congeal there before screwing on the cape and placing it back in its spot then she washed her hands thoroughly shescrubbedwithexfoliatingcreamrinsedsquirtedexactlyonetwopumpsofantibacterialsoapintoher palmslatheredforacountofonetwothreefourfivesixseveneightninetenbeforerubbingoverallthesurfaceofherhandmakingsuretogetunderhernailsdigdigdigdigbeforerinsingoffandthenshewalkedbacktoherroomandfoldedherrobeandputitinthelaundryhamperandthenputonuunderwearandthenherpajamapantsandhershirtandlookedatherbedand

And

And

Her stomach dropped and she felt the mind wasps swarm her brain because something was missing something was missing. What hadn't she done?_ What hadn't she done?_

She retraced her steps in her brain, clapping her hands over her ears to focus. Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, she made the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grabbed her towel, she washed her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dried from down to up and had brushed her teeth and flossed and used Listerine and then she had washed her hands and then gotten dressed and then she was here and she was here and she was here.

Annie's eyes caught the side of the bed, where her pillow case lay on the floor. She hadn't put the pillow case back on her pillow. How could she have been so stupid? She broke the routine. She broke her routine. A sob broke from her throat as she fell to her knees clutching the pillow case. She didn't want to repeat all of that again because she was so tired and she just wanted to stop but she couldn't she couldn't or else everything she had tried so hard to keep would slip from her grasp and she was so sorry Kai, I'm so sorry I'm like this I would do anything anything anything to change because I know it's not normal I know I'm not normal and my thinking isn't normal and everything is wrong wrong wrong and out of control and I'm so sorry I'm so sorry. I'm coping not controlling I just want to be in control I don't want it to control me.

10:06.

She went to bed.

* * *

**I don't have anything against theater majors.**

**So this is…different. I tried to take a swing at a "mad" Annie Cresta…except she isn't really mad. Insanity is doing something over and over and expecting a different result. Annie is perfectly aware that what she is doing won't change anything. In fact she is aware that her thinking and reaction is complete unreasonable.**

**This was actually extremely difficult to write, but very rewarding. Especially the end. I would like to point out a few things to take note of.**

**First off, Annie does in fact have OCD though it is never explicitly stated. If that was a spoiler for anyone, I'm extremely sorry. I tried my absolute hardest to make Annie's symptoms as realistic as possible, though I in no way suffer from this terrible and debilitating condition. Though I have done plenty of research. If any wishes to make recommendations or leave feedback, please do! Keep in mind that this is a work of fiction however. **

**Second off, this story shall be continued. And it will end up being the fluffy happy Odesta romance that everyone loves me for. SORRY NOT SORRY YOU CAN'T STOP THE MOTION OF THE OCEAN OR THE SUN IN THE SKY**

**P.S It's my birthday so I can do whatever I want. I can even ignore the fact that I desperately need to update RY and start another short Odesta fic. I can also make cracky ANs. That's what everyone also loves me for…right? Right? If this is the first time you've ever read one of my fics, welcome!**

**AND YOU AND YOU AND YOU YOU'RE GONNA LOVE ME!**

**P.S.S The title "Little Stars" is a reference as well as "Violent Delights". But a reference to what? So many references who can catch them all? Duh duh duh...**

**Please leave a review, and until next time ~OMGitsgreen**


	2. Madness Most Discreet

_Madness Most Discreet_

* * *

"So Annie, when were you going to tell us that you have a certified hottie crushing on you?" Delly asked excitedly, taking a sip of her Arnold Palmer while Annie just rolled her eyes and tapped out an onetwothreefour rhythm onto her notebook.

"I don't have any such thing." She protested, while Johanna scoffed, Madge gave her an excited look, and Katniss gave a sigh. Annie was sitting in their quad with them, her calculus text book out as she continued to do math problems in spite of the looks digging into her back and the computer sitting on Madge's bed that was playing reruns of Law and Order SVU.

At first Annie hadn't really noticed it.

That made sense, of course. A lot of the time she was caught up in her own tumbling twisting racing thoughts, trying to ignore the stinging of mind wasps and desperately not following the rabbit into endless loops of invasive introspection and checklists. She resisted the irresistible urges to count the lines on a page or check her watch for the time, and kept herself from addressing the millions of other bothersome things that kept her from focusing. She handled it all surprisingly well, to be completely honest. Annie was doing well under her circumstances, despite how she felt sometimes. And so Annie a lot of the time didn't really notice what was going on around her. She was absorbed in her own bigger and more important problems per se.

But after a couple more weeks it became clearly apparent that Finnick O'Daire was seeking her out. For whatever reason, Annie didn't really know. But she was absolutely certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was. No matter where she was on campus he would find her and begin a conversation with her, even about the most meaningless things. Finnick would sit with her at the library, make excuses to talk to her in class, or walk her to her car. Annie didn't really mind. Annie liked Finnick's company. But eventually it became so obvious that other people had started commenting on it as well.

5:02.

She really couldn't catch a break today.

"Girl, if he's got a thing for you than just go for it!" Madge urged but Katniss on the other hand didn't look so happy.

"Guys, this is Finnick O'Daire we're talking about. Isn't he a player?" Katniss said worriedly.

"Well he's also the hottest guy at this school. He's like beyond gorgeous, and have you seen his body, Everdeen? Gold star swimmer bod, you could bounce a coin on that ass. If I was you I would totally tap that, in a fucking heartbeat." Johanna said in her usual manner, between mouthfuls of cheese puffs.

"Listen guys, I don't think Finnick likes me like that. As far as I know he just feels bad for me." Annie said with a sigh.

"Why would he feel bad for you?"

"Well, he's a certified hottie and I'm certifiably insane. It wouldn't work, and besides, I don't do relationships." Annie reminded them, "We're just friends…actually I don't even know if we are friends. We're just people who know each other, and I help him with school work. That's all."

"That's all you'll ever be if you don't man up. Annie, we all know how awesome you are. I mean, granted you're wound up so tight that not even a Yankee Candle and a Channing Tatum movie couldn't unwind you. But you're cool to hang out with." Johanna said, and Delly nodded furiously in agreement.

"And you're beautiful, and smart." Delly said, "I would die for your hair. And your eyes are so green!"

"You're basically the whole package." Madge said, nudging her side, and Annie just released a breath.

"You guys are completely ignoring the elephant in the room. How could I be with another person if I don't even have my own shit together?" Annie said, "He'll just get totally freaked out."

"Annie, I think you're being too hard on yourself." Katniss said gently, "I mean sure it's something to adjust to. But that doesn't mean that you're any less of a person."

"I still say go for it." Johanna piped in, and then that was that. The conversation was over and shifted to the upcoming midterms.

But Annie couldn't stop thinking about. There was just no way that gorgeous Finnick with his perfect dimpled smile and bright sea eyes liked her. It was as certain as the fact that tonight was Tuesday so she was free so she would study until 6:55 and then onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dried from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs. Tomorrow was Wednesday so she would go to her therapist for her appointment at 4:45, but arrive at 4:40 because she absolutely could not stand tardiness, and 4:45 added up to 13 which was a bad number because it is odd and prime but 4:40 added up to eight which was a good number, and then she would stop by the grocery store and buy one box of Barilla's Whole Wheat elbow pasta, two packages of Sargento cheddar cheese, one package of Sargento parmesan cheese, and a carton of milk, but not flour or butter or breadcrumbs because she had checked and they had them at home, and she would check again before she left for therapy, and she would make mac and cheese for dinner because Wednesday was her turn to cook and that Wednesday she assigned on her calendar that it was mac and cheese night. And Thursday was free so she would study in the library unless she was invited to Jo's quad again until 6:55 and then onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dried from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs…

Annie sighed and closed her eyes and after she reached her Monday schedule she took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing thoughts.

5:31.

Doing better.

Annie couldn't stop thinking about it as she drove back home (making sure to obey all of the speed limits and when she got home she parked her car in the same spot she always did, tapping the door as she left and the wheel with her foot before walking inside, tapping on the door, making sure she wiped her shoes thoroughly), the fact that there might be a chance that a boy liked her. It was nice that people thought that she had a chance, even though she really knew she didn't. If she was a normal girl, then maybe it could have happened. But Annie knew better than that. Who would want a girlfriend that would break down if a fleck of yoke got into her egg whites, or would spend hours cleaning the floor because it didn't feel as if she had really done it completely or not and no matter what she did it couldn't appease her? Nobody, that's who. Maybe there would be a chance if she ever got better…or at least closer to normal. Even if Annie didn't really remember what it was like to be normal. But in any case, if she ever came into control of her mind, then there would be a chance for a relationship. But not now. Not yet.

Dinner that night was tense, as they had been for the past couple of weeks, and she had to tap the leg of the table three separate times to calm down. Though Kai had apologized for his prior outburst, she could tell he didn't mean it. She didn't mind that he didn't mean it. Annie had made his life so much harder. Middle-schoolers were beyond brutal. Her own middle school years had been the worst time of her life, not that high school had been much better. Sometimes when Annie caught Kai's eyes her throat felt like it was closing up and she wanted to throw up because she had hurt Kai so bad and her fork and plate wasn't sterilized and everything everything everything was dirty and disgusting and her fault her fault her fault and at the end of the night when she was doing her routine it took her two whole hours to complete it because nothing could calm her down. Nothing could calm her down at all because nothing was right and all she could do was lay in bed as the mind wasps kept stinging and digging their prickers into her brain-

Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three…

11:01.

She lay in bed and wished she could fall asleep.

* * *

"Annie, could I talk to you for a moment?" Effie asked as she walked through the library. Annie looked up at her, rather surprised to see her and stood up.

"Yes? Do you need anything?" Annie asked and Effie smiled her too white smile.

"I was supposed to give Finnick the assignment and his papers back for next week, but I need to get to a meeting. Do you think you could get this to him? I think he told me he would be at the pool." Effie said, handing Annie an envelope full of papers.

"Yes, of course." Annie answered automatically before Effie walked away, her heels clicking after her.

So she packed up her things pack up her things each pen she had used was firmly capped, and each mechanical pencil's lead was retracted before being counted. Onetwothreefour black pens and onetwothreefour. They went into her pencil box, before going into their specific place in her bag. Her onetwothreefour notebooks were placed back in order Computer Science, English, Math, Theatre, then her lap top which was powered down, wiped quickly with a sanitary napkin, before being placed back into her laptop case which was also wiped down before being placed in her bag carefully. She zipped up her bag from right to left, and she took out her hand sanitizer and squirted a bit onto her hand and rubbed it in. Then she zipped up her jacket and put on her back pack and left the library tapping each doorway she passed under.

4:22.

She hugged the envelope to her chest as she made her way to the athletic center. Annie never used the athletic center at school, though it was free for all students. Just the idea that so many people that were sweaty and dirty and touching the same things without washing their hands thoroughly or cleaning up after themselves made her feel ill to her stomach. She had her treadmill and elliptical, as well as a weight trainer at home that she used instead. She asked the students at the desk where the pool was as she swiped her student ID in, and walked down the hall to the pool facility.

Annie hadn't been in a swim pool since she had been forced to quit swimming when her problems worsened, and the overwhelming smell of chlorine and heavy humidity was very nostalgic. But the pool was a marvel completely new. A 50 meter pool, newly tiled, with cutting edge technology including new digital clocks, sleek diving blocks, and in the slick black and white and gold alternating patters with PANEM U MOCKINGJAYS spelled out in bold under the record board, which Annie noticed contained a lot of "Finn O'Daire". The swim team was obviously just finished with practice and were lazily swimming off a hard work out, joking and laughing with each other.

She walked right up to the coach who gave her a professional look.

"What can I do for you Miss?" He asked holding his clipboard firmly.

"Hi, I just needed to get something to Finnick from his professor." She said, and just before the coach could answer Annie saw Finnick rushing forward and…it was quite the sight to see. In fact, Annie didn't have any clue where she should be looking. He was nearly seven feet of golden, soaking wet, sculpted muscle and only wearing a speedo which did little to hide his…assets.

Face. Face. Focus on the face, Annie. She told herself, hoping the burn of her flush wasn't as noticeable as it felt.

"Annie, what are you doing here?" Finnick said, sounding thoroughly delighted as Annie stuck out her envelope.

"Here." Annie said, "From Effie."

"Ah, oh shit. I don't want to get that wet." Finnick said awkwardly, "Could you wait for like ten minutes tops?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Annie said, agreeing before she even realized what she was doing, and Finnick gave her a brilliant grin before running off to the locker room.

Annie stood outside of the pool room, feeling the daggers of judgment dig into her skin as members of the girls swimming team walked out of the door with their towels wrapped around them and left to go take an ice bath. She stood there, tapping the wall to regain composure, and held the envelope securely in her hand because what if she dropped it and lost it and Finnick didn't have it and he really needed it?

Finnick popped out from the door almost eight minutes later on the nose. His hair was still dripping onto his Panem U sweatshirt, but Annie noticed he didn't reek of chlorine so she assumed he must have just jumped into the shower to rinse off before getting changed. He gave her a grateful look and Finnick took the envelope and shoved it into his half opened backpack before slinging it over his shoulder.

4:47.

"Hey so…are you doing anything at the moment?" Finnick asked and Annie blinked. She should answer that right then it was 4:47 and she should be studying in the library because she wasn't with Jo in her quad and then going home by 6:55 and that day was Friday so it was a free day and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dry from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs. However, her therapist had told her on Wednesday that she should try to take risks, so instead she answered,

"No."

"There's the pizza place on the corner, you know, Bianco's? Could I possibly buy you dinner?" Finnick asked hopefully, and Annie cleared her throat and gave him a wobbly smile, reassuring herself that she had eaten at Bianco's and she hadn't gotten sick because of their food and they had disposable cutlery and the fact she was so messed up wouldn't be quite so obvious and she would be fine.

"That sounds great." Annie said, trying to sound enthusiastic despite the fact she was breakingbreakingbreaking routine. Finnick obviously didn't notice because he began to walk with her out the door of the athletic center.

Bianco's was a hole in the wall pizza joint that the kids at Panem U went to on nearly a daily basis. They put their stuff down, Annie tried to be discreet about her tapping, and they ordered their food. Annie got two slices of cheese pizza, she never ordered pizza with toppings because if the number of toppings was odd she just couldn't eat it because it was odd and the numbers couldn't be divided and it just upset her to think about it. Finnick on the other hand and ordered a whole pizza, topped with sardines, pineapples, caramelized onions, hamburger, and jalapeño peppers.

"Is that any good?" Annie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I think so. My parents always tell me I eat like a pregnant woman, but I can't help it. It's a swimmer thing." Finnick said, basically inhaling a whole piece.

"What strokes do you swim?" Annie asked, as she neatly cut up her pizza, separating the pizza from the crust because she never ate the crust.

"Practically everything but right now I'm focusing on backstroke and breaststroke. Like, um these ones-" He said before beginning to go through the motions of each stroke, but Annie laughed.

"I know. I used to be on a swim team until I was like, fourteen." Annie explained, and Finnick looked honestly embarrassed.

"Oh, I didn't realize." Finnick said, rubbing the back of his neck. "What strokes did you swim?"

"I mostly swam distance freestyle." Annie said and Finnick nodded.

"You do strike me as a distance freestyler, if I was going to assign an event to you. Do you remember what your 500 time was?"

"I know I broke six minutes. I think like a 5:49 or something." Annie said vaguely, trying to remember.

"Wow, that's actually pretty fast for a thirteen/fourteen. Why'd you quit?" Finnick asked, curiously and Annie looked down at her pizza.

"Health issues." She said shortly.

"I get it. A lot of kids burn out at that age." Finnick said sympathetically.

"What about you? You strike me more of a butterflyer or an IMer." Annie said, desiring to turn the subject of conversation from her. Finnick gave a wide grin.

"I am those things. I told you, I can swim anything. But I have basically no chance of beating Michael Phelps. I mean, I'm close, but I would rather focus on something that I could win gold in." Finnick explained proudly.

"Isn't Michael Phelps retired?"

"Pssssh. You really think he's retiring? Yeah right. I bet my gorgeous ass that he'll be signing on for Rio by the end of the year." Finnick said with a sassy wave of his finger, and Annie couldn't help but giggle at his antics.

"But that's beyond impressive that you're really that close." Annie told him honestly.

"Last Olympic trials I came in fourth and fifth in all of my events, and I was sixteen." Finnick said proudly, "If I lived in another country…well, except maybe Australia, I would have gone to the Olympics. But I'm almost glad I didn't. I've had a lot of time to improve since then."

"That's amazing." Annie said, in a bit of awe, "Can I ask a question, thought?"

"Yeah, shoot." Finnick said, devouring another piece.

"Why didn't you just get your GED and focus on swimming?" Annie asked and Finnick gave a heavy sigh and a smile.

"You don't mince words do you?" He asked and Annie flushed and looked down.

"I'm sorry, that's a personal question." Annie backpedaled thinking about how stupid she was and that he was going to get up and leave because she asked such a personal question and he would leave and she saw it repeating and repeating in her head, until Finnick waved her off.

"That's what I wanted to do. But…my parents were really adamant about getting a degree." Finnick explained, and Annie got the sense that there was more to it than just that, but just left it alone.

"What are you majoring in?" Annie asked and Finnick gave a grandiose gesture with his hand.

"Secondary education." He said in a noble tone before adding, "I wouldn't really mind being a teacher. What about you? You're a math major right? And I already know you're brilliant. Are you going to be a professor at MIT and figure a method to time travel or something?"

"I'm not that smart, and no. I'm absolutely terrible at talking in front of people." Annie explained, making a face, "I was thinking I was going to add an engineering major. I've already done most of the prerequisites. I interned over the summer at Hovercraft Inc. and was thinking I would really start focusing on aeronautical engineering."

Noting Finnick's blank look she added,

"Building planes and spacecraft things."

"Oh wow. Wait, holy shit you really do want to be a rocket scientist." Finnick said nervously, "All that stuff is way over my head."

"Don't act so intimidated. I'm the one sitting across from an Olympic caliber athlete." Annie said with a roll of her eyes between bites of her pizza and he started on his third piece.

"Well, you are kind of intimidating. Not in the bad way, obviously. I mean, you're really nice, and funny, and helpful. And you're so smart." Finnick said with a nervous laugh, "And as you know I'm pretty much just a dumb jock. You're going to go build planes and aircrafts and stuff and all I can do is just swim back and forth in a pool rather quickly."

"You are far from dumb." Annie said, "You don't give yourself enough credit really. As far as I can tell you do well in all your classes. You're nice, popular beyond belief, have the whole school eating out of the palm of your hand, and to get where you are you have to be a hard worker. I don't know why you're so nervous."

"Annie, you've crept up on me." Finnick said with a certain sparkle in his eyes. "Listen, I'm going to get my stuff boxed up. Can I walk you back to campus?"

"Yes, sure." Annie said reaching for her wallet because she knew that two slices of cheese pizza from Bianco's was four dollars and sixty six cents and she was going to pay as she always did before Finnick shook his head.

"I told you that I'd buy you dinner, remember?" Finnick reminded her, pulling out his own wallet.

"I'm going to restroom for a second." Annie said quickly, getting up and grabbing her backpack and shoving her money in her pocket. The bathroom was disgusting, disgusting, disgusting but she really couldn't help it. Annie had to calm down, she had to clean her dirtydirty hands. So she squirted two pumps of the soap on her hands and lathered until ten making sure to get under her fingernails and then wash off at least three times.

5:04.

When Annie finally emerged from the restroom, hands raw from scrubbing and clutching her backpack, Finnick and her began the short walk back to campus. At first Finnick didn't say anything, which Annie was fine with because she enjoyed the silence, until they turned the corner at the gate.

"Next weekend I don't have swim practice on Sunday. If you're free…do you want to go do something?" He asked her and Annie paused for a second before continuing to walk forward, trying to understand the words that had just come out of his mouth.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Annie blurted out and to her horror Finnick burst out laughing.

"Yeah, kind of." Finnick agreed.

"I…uh…where are we going?" Annie asked her brain going into hyper drive.

"How about it's a surprise?"

"I-I don't do surprises." Annie said tapping the wall of the gate. "I really _really_ hate surprises. It's not that I like surprises and I'm saying I hate them to be cute, I actually hate surprises-no, I absolutely loathe surprises."

Annie hated surprises because if it was a surprise she would go through ever single possible scenario in her brain and she couldn't prepare for anything. She always had to know what she was doing and when she was doing it and for how long she was doing it otherwise she would go into a panic. Even just this on a free day was stretching her boundaries uncomfortably but she was doing this because her therapist had told her that she should try to take risks, not that Finnick wasn't a nice guy and she didn't enjoy his company, but everything was moving so quickly and she felt out of control because she should be at home and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three.

"Well you can't bad mouth my date with you if you haven't even accepted the offer." Finnick said, placing his hands on his hips. Annie opened her mouth to respond and then closed it.

"I'm not that fun." Annie said softly before looking down at her hands that were clutched at her backpack straps. She couldn't help but think how dirty they were despite the fact she washed them and washed them and washed them. And she knew it was wrong to think of her hands that way. There were trillions upon trillions of germs upon everyone's hands. So why then, was it only hers she was disgusted with?

"Annie, I can honestly tell you that right now, just talking with you like this is about ten million times more fun than any other date I've ever been on." Finnick reassured her, "Would you give me a chance?"

"If you tell me what the date is going to consist of, then I might say yes."

"Might or definitely?" Finnick asked, his mouth curling into a smile.

"…might."

"I was thinking I would pick you up, and take you to a movie. And then we could go out to dinner. I know a really great Japanese restaurant called Sakura." Finnick said with a smile that quickly dimmed as he saw the expression on her face because she would have to know exactly what time he would pick her up and exactly what time the movie was and know what the movie was so she could look up what it was about and what theater they would go to so she would know exactly how to get there and bring her own things to the movie because the people who ran the movie had touched everything and Annie had never eaten at Sakura's or ever had Japanese food and she didn't want to go through the embarrassment of having them sanitize her utensils or plates or cups on a date, but if she didn't what if she got sick and threw up and her parents had to bring her to the hospital?

"Are you okay?" Finnick asked twice before he drew her from her panic.

"Finnick…you're a really nice guy but I…I don't think we'd be good together. I'm way more trouble than it's worth." Annie said nervously with a self-depreciating laugh.

"What? You're smart and pretty and I don't mind that you're kinda OCD." Finnick said jokingly.

Annie stared at him.

"OCD…?" She croaked and he gave a laugh.

5:11.

"Yeah, you know. Like that stuff you do when you pack up from the library. I mean, it's pretty weird. But hey, maybe I could loosen you up, or you could organize my dorm room for me or something." Finnick said easily, walking forward only to realize a few moments later that Annie wasn't walking with him anymore because she felt as if her world was shrinking down right before her very eyes and she couldn't breathe and she kept seeing her hands and they were so red and raw and stinging and oozing blood because they were so dry and cracked and hideous and dirty dirty dirty because there was something so wrong with her.

No.

She thought she was hiding it. She thought she was doing a good job and trying to be normal_. All she wanted was to be normal!_ She had a goal and she wanted to reach it. Annie wanted to move in with her friends, have a fun college experience, get a good job, live on her own, and not have to burden everyone around her any longer but she couldn't. Why couldn't she just get herself together? Why? Why? Why?

Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three.

Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three.

Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineeightisgoodsevenisbadbecauseitisoddandprimebutnineisokaybecauseitisdivisiblebythree

Her eyes were burning, her throat ached, and the pizza in her stomach had just turned to lead. She shoved her hand into her pocket, drawing out the four dollars and sixty six cents exactly and throwing it at him with all of her might and began to storm to her car, tears of anger and embarrassment washing down her face. Annie couldn't believe she had been so stupid. She couldn't believe that she had thought he would be any different. Annie couldn't believe she had given the thought of love a chance when she was so obviously fucked up in the head. It was obviously some kind of giant joke, he really did just feel bad for her and she couldn't believe she had been _so stupid_!

"Annie! Annie, what did I say?" Finnick asked desperately and she slammed her car door close.

"Don't talk to me! Leave me alone!" Annie half screamed at Finnick, leaving him looking wounded and confused in the center of the parking lot as she jammed her key into the ignition and pulled away quickly.

She was sobbing on the way back home, and for once she took shelter in her rituals as she followed all the speed limits and parked in the same spot and knew for a fact that it would all be the same as she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she would wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dry from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs. Going outside of her comfort zone only brought her pain. She should have just accepted that and moved on. But when she got through the door and saw her mother sitting on the couch she didn't have the strength to do anything but collapse right there and cry into mother's chest when she rushed up to her, unable to explain why she was crying to her mother, but just desperately needing comfort.

10:43.

She fell asleep, chasing the rabbit with two blue capsules.

* * *

**Finnick just took three steps forward and then like twenty steps back.**

**Will he rebound?**

**I guess we'll just have to see!**

**BTW, I am a collegiate level swimmer so I have extensive knowledge of swimmer lingo and will be using it. Feel free to use this quick guide if ever wishing to write a fic in which one of the characters is on a swim team, because god knows how frustrating it is to me when people don't know what on Earth they are writing about, nor is it realistic. Please ask if you want advice or help.**

**1. Swimmers do not say "I am going to swim a four-lap race!" Every "lap" of the pool is either 25 yards, 25 meters, or 50 meters depending on the pool. In this pool in my fic and for the Olympics it is a 50 meter pool. Therefore when talking about 1 lap we say 50, two laps is a 100, and a four laps would be a 200, and continuing all the way until 1500.**

**2. The four strokes are Butterfly, Backstroke, Breastroke, and Freestyle (please dear god do not call it crawl). Often abbreviated to Fly, Back, Breast, and Free.**

**3. IM stands for individual medley. There are two types of IM swum in a 50 meter pool, including 200 and 400. It is an event in which a swimmer will swim either one lap of each stroke or two laps of each stroke in the order of fly, back, breast, free depending on which IM is being swum.**

**4. Flip turns: That cool somersault thingy swimmers do at the wall. It's basically a quick wall transition used in primarily free and back.**

**5. The age groups of swimming are eight and under, eleven/twelve, thirteen/fourteen, fifteen-eighteen, and then Open. So those would be the ages you would race against at any given time. **

**6. Relays are events in which four swimmers swim a certain distance in a team. Very similar to track in format, in which you can't leave the diving block until the person swimming before you touches the wall. There are two types of relays, free and IM. During an IM relay the order of strokes is back, breast, fly, free. Most notable of these relays is the 400 free relay and the 400 IM relay.**

**7. DQ: Not Dairy Queen, something much less pleasant. DQ stands for disqualification. A referee can DQ a swimmer if they are not abiding by the rules lay out for each individual stroke, or if for example a person in a relay jumps of the diving block before a person touches. This makes the swim not count.**

**8. Yardage: The amount of yards (or distance) one swims in a practice. Basically the judge of how difficult a swim practice is.**

**9. Meet: When two or more teams compete against each other**

**10. Taper: This is the resting period before an important meet. Normally the lessening of yardage and more race pace stuff.**

**11. Shaving: Contrary to popular belief swimmers don't shave often. Actually, until big meets we're not supposed to shave AT ALL. This leads to shaving parties where everyone gets together and celebrates the loss of months of disgusting leg/body hair.**

**There's probably stuff I'm missing, if I think of anything else I'll add it. I hope this prevents confusion, and again, feel free to use and reference.**

**Thank you everyone for the huge amount of love on this story so far! All the reviews for a first chapter are honestly amazing, and the response kind of blew me away. I hope you all continue to enjoy and please keep reviewing, you don't know how much all of your excitement inspires me! Until next time ~OMGitsgreen**


	3. Still-waking Sleep

Still-waking Sleep

* * *

Annie could recall it truly starting when she was in fifth grade.

Though of course it wasn't the full blown hysteria, the madness, the frenzy that it was currently. But the signs were there, almost constantly rearing their heads. When relatives reminisced upon her childhood and brought up stories of her blocks having to be in a particular order, or when her parents had to forcibly stop her from scrubbing at a scraped knee constantly for fear of an infection, it was there. But the first time she _knew_ something was wrong with her was in fifth grade. That was really when it all started.

At school during that fateful day they had watched a rather harmless video about smoking in health class, as most elementary students did during their time at elementary school. Annie had seen similar videos before, but this video in particular had an image that burned in her brain. The lungs of a man who had smoked, a black, tar-filled, disease ridden, shrunken thing. Annie clearly remembered feeling beyond nauseous as the video showed people just standing there smoking, and all Annie could think about was how normal they looked even though they had organs that were rotting away. And that was when the thought dawned on her. What if her mother or her father or her sister or baby brother had organs rotting away on their insides? What if they were sick and just didn't know it? What if she smoked around them or if someone else smoked around them, and they got sick but were unable to get help and then they died?

Annie got so ill at the thought that she had to be taken to the nurse, and then she was brought home. She told her parents of her worry and they laughed it off, because they weren't smokers. But that did nothing to ease her mind. She lay in bed that night, the images assaulting her of her mother and father smiling at her before they dropped to the floor, going to the hospital only to find rotten organs. Again and again, night after night, her mind would replay those images again and again until they twisted into more sinister visions, her parents in the hospital bed, coughs yielding blood, black tar dripping from between teeth, and always, always it was all her fault. Annie was the one who got those she loved sick, who infected them with her presence. She would lay in her bed in the darkness, frozen in absolute terror, as the waking nightmare repeated again and again.

It was then she came to the realization of how dirty she was. It was the most obvious thing in the whole world. Annie was dirty and she would contaminate those she loved and they would get sick. Annie needed to save her family from the illness that was so apparently corrupting them. It was then that the ritualization started. Annie knew it wasn't normal, but she had to wash her hands, and her sheets, and her dishes, oh so carefully to protect her family from germs. Annie knew it wasn't normal that she began keeping time so carefully, but what if something happened and her mom and dad or sister and brother had gotten into an accident or fainted and hit their head and that was why they were running late because they needed her help? Annie knew it wasn't normal to plan every second and aspect of her day, but if she didn't what if she missed something important like a doctor's appointment and infected her whole family with an illness? Annie knew what she was doing was irrational and dumb and didn't make any sense at all, but she couldn't stop it or else the consequences would be dire.

So she hid it all from her family and her friends. Annie hid the habits and the thoughts and her worries. Annie hid it so no one would be bothered by her strangeness, because she knew she wasn't being normal but she couldn't help it one bit. Her plans and actions and rituals were the glue that was holding her world together. Without them everything would fall apart and Annie didn't think she would be able to put everything back together.

Annie had hardly been sleeping at all. The thoughts tormented her, and kept her until the early hours of the morning seized by nightmarish fear. So she came home one day from school and she just wanted to sleep. That was all she wanted. Annie wanted to sleep and escape the waking nightmare she had been living in. It all made so much sense as she went into the medicine cabinet of her parent's bathroom and pulled out her father's sleeping pills. She had been sneaking one or two for a couple nights prior at that point but it hadn't really helped. She would still stay awake and it just made her feel dazed and confused in the morning. So if she took more than one or two then certainly she would go to sleep and stay asleep, because she didn't want to wake up if this endless cycle of fear and anxiety was all she had to look forward too.

She remembered tipping the bottle of capsules and letting them slide down her throat with the aid of Apple and Eve apple juice, then placing the empty bottle of apple juice by the equally empty medicine bottle. And then she felt the overwhelming feeling of relief as black dots swarmed her vision and she fell asleep right there on the couch.

When she woke up she was in the hospital with a tube running down her throat, pumping liquid out of her stomach. Her mother came in and screamed at her, demanding to know why Annie had tried to kill herself, and Annie was so terribly confused and crying because killing herself wasn't something she _wanted_ to do. All Annie had wanted was to make it all go away, to go to sleep because she had only gotten five or six hours of sleep in three days, to stop the nightmare that was her life. Annie was mortified and scared and embarrassed as she told the doctor about the hand washing and the time keeping and the thoughts of black teeth and rot that had kept her up on so many nights because she knew what she had been doing wasn't normal, no not normal at all but it was all she could do to keep her family safe. After recounting all of this Annie was dismissed to go back to her hospital room, but she snuck out and sat outside the door as the doctor talked to her parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cresta, your daughter has been experiencing symptoms including anxiety, persistent, repeated, and intrusive thoughts, and to combat these she has been using rituals to calm these anxieties. This description given by your daughter as well as multiple evaluations done by myself, and a second opinion by our head in the psychiatric unit has led to our diagnosis of OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder. We can offer various treatments and methods, as well as recommend some well-trained child psychologists in the area for your use-"

"Oh God. Oh God." Annie's mom sobbed, "Is it my fault? M-My aunt has diagnosed bipolar disorder! Does that have anything to do with this?"

"Mrs. Cresta, understand that multiple factors go into the development of a disorder such as this. Of course genetics do have a role to play, however it is also a combination of brain chemistry and function, as well as learned behaviors."

"But we can treat it right?" Her father asked, "People have this disorder right? We can treat it…right?"

"We can treat your daughter, and hopeful be able to control her symptoms-"

Annie ran back to her hospital bed, grasping her mother's smart phone from her purse and typed in OCD into Google and clinked on the first link. Annie was then properly terrified by what she read. Words like: anxiety, behavior, intrusive, thoughts, rituals, and then of course disorder. Annie even at that young of an age couldn't help but see the irony in it all.

Annie had been so busy protecting her family from illness, that she hadn't seen that she was the sick one the whole time.

* * *

"Annie, please." Her mother was saying as Annie kept pacing back and forth.

It was two nights after Finnick's failed confession, and Annie had been doing worse than usual. After an argument with Kai regarding the fact that she _needed _to wash his sheets he had stormed out and told her parents that he was meeting his friends. That had been at exactly 4:30, she remembered because 4:30 added up to seven and that was a bad number because it is odd and prime. And now it was 11:32 and Kai hadn't called or come back home and he was hurt somewhere and Annie knew it. She knew it because it was all of her fault and he was hurt and crying and needing help.

"No, no, no, no. It's not right. It's. Not. Right. What am I doing wrong, what am I doing wrong?" Annie was begging, "Mom, what am I doing wrong?"

"You aren't doing anything wrong sweetheart." Her mother said gently. "You need to sleep."

"I can't sleep knowing that Kai is out there!" Annie gasped feeling like her rib cage was closing on her lungs, her heart racing in her chest. "Mom, i-it's my fault. It's all my fault."

"How could it be your fault, Annie?" Her mother asked, sitting on her bed.

"I'm the one, Mom! I'm the one who is driving him into a corner! It's my fault!" She sobbed, "Because I'm so stupid and I can't control myself and now no one will want to be with me-"

"Annie, listen. Your brother is going through a phase." Her mother said, "But he needs to make his mistakes and learn from them. It isn't on you to take the blame."

"Then why do I feel like it's all my fault?" Annie said, sitting slowly next to her mother who put and arm around her shoulder.

"Because you are so kind, Annie." Her mother said, touching her face. "You feel everything in your heart. You have always been like that."

"It's because I'm crazy." Annie croaked and her mother smiled.

"You are the best kind of crazy." Her mother reassured her, "Now…why do you feel like no one will ever want to be with you? That's a new phrase I haven't heard from you before."

Annie flushed and looked down at her hands. Her mother was always able to pick this stuff up.

"A…few weeks ago I met a guy." Annie said quietly. "And he was really nice to me. Asked me out to dinner… and then on a date. And I was going to say yes before he made a joke…about OCD."

"Oh Annie…" Her mother said gently, stroking her hair.

"That's why I've…been doing a little worse lately. It kinda got to me, you know." Annie said, "I really thought I could have a normal romance. He made me forget that I'm not a normal girl."

"Annie, you are a normal girl. You go to school, like popular music, have hobbies, and do whatever your mother says grudgingly." Her mother said, eliciting a small smile from her, before adding, "You have a diagnosed medical condition, but so do most Americans. This boy probably knows as much about your condition as the next average Jo, which is next to nothing. Don't fault him too much about being uninformed."

"I'm not sure he'll ever want to talk to me again…I kinda flipped out." Annie said with a dry laugh and her mother tucked Annie's hair behind her ear.

"The right one will." Her mother said before kissing her cheek. "You've just got to wait for him"

Annie smiled back at her mother as her father knocked on the door and opened it, looking tired.

"Kai's downstairs, fresh off a cop car ride and a 100 dollar fine for trespassing. Thought it'd be funny to go break into the wedding chapel in the park with his friends." Her father announced and her mom got up.

"Duty calls. Goodnight."

"Good night." Annie said as her mom left her room.

11:43.

She finally fell asleep with the aid of blue capsules, trying not to hear the yelling from downstairs.

* * *

"Finnick…can we talk?" Annie asked Finnick who looked wholeheartedly surprised.

"Yeah, sure. Of course. Walk to Mellark's?" Finnick asked, naming the popular coffee shop and bakery down the street. Annie gave a jerky nod before Finnick said good bye to the blonde girl who was nearly hanging on him and joined Annie at her side.

Neither of them talked on the way over to the coffee shop, and Annie scarcely remembered the walk over because she was just a ball of nerves, going over again and again how she was going to approach this clusterfuck of a situation, but somehow they both ended up in Mellark's without Annie fainting. Annie took a cup of black coffee with a croissant, while Finnick ordered an extravagant mocaccino and three jam filled, white and dark chocolate covered Danishes. For a few moments they both sipped their coffees before Annie sighed, finally giving up.

12:35.

Eleven. Not a good sign. Hopefully this ended up better than she thought it would. Best case scenario at this point was Finnick accepting her apologies and then going off and never speaking to her again.

"I have to apologize for three things." Annie said placing her cup making sure to wipe off all traces of liquid from the table.

"Okay." Finnick said, sounding vaguely amused.

"First off, I'm sorry I freaked out on you. I've…had some trust issues these past couples years, so the fact that everything was moving so quickly unnerved me." Annie explained, fiddling with the edge of her croissant.

"Forgiven. I'm sorry that I was trying to progress everything too quickly and I made you uncomfortable. I'm kind of used to everything going…quickly, I guess you could say. But that wasn't my goal at all. I really did just want to take you out on a date." Finnick said before smiling, "The offer still stands."

She blinked. Well, she hadn't expected that response.

"Thank you." Annie said, "I forgive you too. Secondly, I'm sorry I was dishonest with you."

"Dishonest?"

"I tried to make it seem like I wasn't interested in the date…I am. It's just that….God, this is hard for me." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose to regain composure before saying, "I have OCD."

"Oh…Oh-Oh my God. That's why…Jesus, Annie. I'm so sorry. And fuck I said such a stupid, demeaning thing to you." Finnick said, running a hand through his hair.

"It's not like you knew." Annie said, "That's why it's…hard for me to go places I don't know well. Sometimes even this is a stretch."

"I'm so sorry." Finnick said quietly.

"I'm over it. I know you didn't mean any harm by it, but understand that it did hurt my feelings."

"I'm surprised you're even talking to me anymore." Finnick said truthfully.

"My skin isn't that thin. I had just pushed myself hard that day so something had to give out."

"I forgive you, if you forgive me?" Finnick offered and Annie smiled in return.

"And the last thing I'm sorry about is wailing on you with spare change."

"Hey, I've got a pretty thick skull. Takes more than a couple cents to beat me up. Though you do have great aim."

"It's all…um…physics."

"Aeronautical type physics?" Finnick asked and her smile tugged further on her lips.

"Something like that."

"So…what do you want to do from here?" Finnick asked and Annie blinked.

12:39.

"What I want to do?" Annie asked surprised.

"Yeah…I mean, my intentions are pretty clear." Finnick said, taking a bite of a Danish, "I really like you, and because I really like you, I'm totally cool with you calling the shots on what you feel comfortable with."

"…really?" Annie asked surprised.

"Yeah."

"I guess that's a little surprising." Annie admitted, "Most guys would be running to the hills."

"Why is that?"

"It's a little daunting, don't you think?" Annie asked back.

"I don't think so. Trust me, I've been with some girls who would've had you running for the hills." Finnick said with a pretty smile, "I like being with you. You're funny, easy to talk to, and you've put up with me better then you give yourself credit for."

"It's just a little surprising. Most guys I've tried to date aren't so cool with me calling the shots." Annie said and Finnick shrugged as he licked his fingers free of jam and chocolate (a sight that Annie was sure to have committed to memory).

"We're both adults. I think we can figure it out." Finnick explained before starting on his third Danish between gulps of his drink. "So tell me what you want to do first."

"Tell me about yourself." Annie asked and Finnick gave a quirking half-smile.

"I'm a full blooded Irish boy, with a dual citizenship, my dad's a well-known real estate agent and my mom's an orthopedic surgeon in Florida. When I was six I started swimming, and then basically grew up in Boston, going to prep schools and the like training to be the best-"

"Finnick, I asked about you. Not swimming." Annie laughed, "Unless swimming is everything."

Finnick's eyes went wide for a second, and he looked completely astonished. He swallowed heavily as if she had just said something completely groundbreaking before saying with a bit of a croak,

"I…uh…I'm a huge cheesy nineties music buff. My favorite movies are The Blind Side and Forrest Gump. I love seafood and have a hobbies of sailing and scuba diving when I can." Finnick explained. "What about you?"

"I have a mom and dad. Both are accountants. My sister Cora's in her clinics for med school, and I have a younger brother named Kai who's in middle school." Annie explained, "I guess I like most kinds of music…though I have a particular attraction to alternative. My favorite movie has got to be The Princess Bride, and I don't really have many hobbies. I like to read I guess…school work takes up most of my time." Annie said, "I can play a mean saxophone though. Used to be in the band at my high school and did the pep band here for a while."

"And you used to swim on a swim team. Which one?" Finnick asked and Annie blushed a little bit.

"The Water Dragons."

Finnick gave an appreciative whistle.

"Damn, _The_ Water Dragons? They are hard core. Are they the reason you got injured?"

"It…um, wasn't that I got injured. It's hard to swim when you have to be constantly reassured of how many laps you've swam or need to swim." Annie said quietly.

"Oh." Finnick said shortly before giving a sigh. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It isn't your fault."

12:43.

That sat in silence for a few moments, neither of them knowing quite what to say before Finnick spoke up again,

"So, since we're taking it slow, what's up next on the agenda?"

"Agenda?"

"My offer for a date is still wide open. What do you want to do?" He asked, surprising her.

"I don't know. It's kind of hard for me to come up with something right on the spot." Annie said, her brain still getting over the shock that Finnick was actually okay with all of the baggage she had dumped on his lap. She was almost grateful, if not for that her mind would be dive bombing into all the ten million different options or terrible outcomes.

"Then how about you come up with an activity, and a restaurant, and tell me on Friday? Then we can plan accordingly." Finnick offered and Annie blinked.

"Just like that? You'll let me decide?" Annie asked, bewildered.

"Yep. It's kinda a relief actually. I'm totally shit at planning things. Oh, and also let me pay for this, and don't throw the money right back in my face." Finnick joked and Annie flushed.

"I just ordered a coffee and a croissant!"

"And I'm paying for every damn cent of it, thank you very much." Finnick said in a stern manner and Annie couldn't help but roll her eyes. "And don't roll your eyes at me, even though that's kind of cute."

Annie's face went hot at this and she spluttered out something that had Finnick laughing merrily as he covered the bill for both of them.

He walked her back to campus, and he walked to his next class and even though that day was Monday and she always takes her car through the car wash, choosing the third option called the Diamond wash, before going home and vacuuming her car and then doing her homework until exactly 6:55, and then going on to help her mother make dinner and then eat it, and then onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, and then she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dry from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs and then she would go to bed on Mondays. Instead she high tailed it for Johanna's dorm, banging on her door only to finding Johanna rather ruffled and almost completely naked except for a basketball jersey with Thresh's last name, Johnson, on it.

"Where's the fucking fire, Crazy?" Johanna demanded, rubbing her very bloodshot eyes, "Damnit, my head is pounding. Remind me never to sink into bottom of a bottle of tequila again."

"Finnick O'Daire asked me out on a date." Annie exclaimed.

"Um, congratulations?"

"What am I supposed to do? He told me I could choose where we go and what if I don't choose something he likes-"

"I'm sure you'll choose something great, if not just suck his cock and everything will be just peachy." Johanna offered and Annie's cheeks turned into flame.

"Johanna I'm being serious!" Annie half shrieked.

"I am being serious!"

"Take him ice skating." A deeper, much manlier voice called from in the room, and that was when Annie who had obviously been so caught up in her panic that she hadn't noticed the extremely large Thresh, barely fitting in Johanna's bed, with obviously only the blanket covering him. He offered a shy wave, "Hi Annie."

"Um, hi Thresh." Annie squeaked.

"What about ice skating?" Johanna asked, and Thresh shrugged.

"The varsity teams were able to go skate in the arena a few weeks ago. Finnick absolutely sucked at it, but he totally loved it." Thresh said and Johanna jumped back on the bed.

"There you go, problem solved. Now unless you want to come in and join-"

"No thanks. I'm flattered, but I'm not ready to take our friendship to that level." Annie answered.

"What you need is a threesome, Cresta." Johanna said with a role of her eyes, and Thresh just chuckled.

"I'll leave you to your own devices, Johanna. Bye Thresh."

"Bye Annie. It's always nice seeing you." Thresh said good naturedly before Johanna half-shoved her tongue down his throat. Annie shut the door and shook her head mumbling to herself,

"And people say I'm the crazy one."

* * *

"Here." Annie said, sliding the few stapled pieces of paper across the table to Finnick. They both sat in the dining commons the day after Thresh had given Annie the idea for their date, and he took a look at the packet before his eyes widened.

"Whoa."

"My address, the address of the ice rink, then of course the restaurant. I wanted to make sure you had everything."

"Thanks Annie. This really helps." Finnick said gratefully. "Oh, and wait? Ice rink! Awesome, I love skating. I can totally show you my awesome moves!"

"I'll look forward to that." Annie said, mentally noting to thank Thresh again, as Finnick moved his completely full of food and began to eat. A crock of chicken pot pie, lasagna, and a bacon cheese burger, and fries, sat on one plate, next to a plate of chocolate chunk cookies, a slice of apple pie, butterscotch pudding, a piece of vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, all raided from the lunch line to the amusement of everyone around. She remembered this because the lunch lady, who was obviously familiar with Finnick's insane eating habits, had smiled and asked him jokingly as she examined his tray and he had cheerily announced that there was nothing else he wanted more than coconut macaroons and tiramisu.

In comparison, she packed all of her own lunches, but had just gotten a can of apple juice, making sure to disinfect the lip of the can before opening it and beginning to unpack her lunch from her lunch box carefully. Everything else was in carefully labeled Tupperware containers, sealed and cleaned. A small salad with lettuce, tomato, carrots, and cucumbers, a container of creamy Caesar dressing came out first, Wheat Thins, hummus, and of course carefully washed and cut apples and a small container of Jiff to go peanut butter for dessert.

She took out the salad first, of course. Pealing the lid off the container before taking the lid off the salad dressing and pouring the dressing over the salad, rotating around four times before wiping clean the side of the container and closing it, placing it back in her bag as she set the first napkin aside to be thrown out later. She took her stash of plastic utensils out of the box in her bag, placing a fork, spoon, and knife on a napkin beside her and slowly began to eat, wrinkling her nose in disgust as Finnick dumped ketchup and mustard on his burger, watching as he alternated between bites of all of his food in reckless abandon, not caring in the slightest if tomato sauce from his lasagna got on his fries, nor if mustard dripped into his pot pie. But of course the most alarming thing was that he never seemed to stop to breath.

"Finnick, please slow down." Annie scolded him and he blinked, swallowed as his mouth was full of food.

"I'm freaking starving!" He whined and Annie rolled his eyes.

"And the food isn't going to run away from you." Annie reminded him, feeling much like she was scolding a child as he pouted and took an exaggeratingly slow bite from his lasagna, chewed and swallowed. "If you eat like that you'll make yourself sick."

"I haven't gotten sick so far." Finnick said before looking at her own lunch, "Is that enough for you? That's like a snack for me, and like zero protein."

"Peanut butter has protein in it." Annie argued before sighing, "Besides this is enough for me." (She didn't mention that the fact that to her deli meats in lunches was just a bad idea because what if the meat spoiled and she got ill? Annie only ate meat hot, and steak well done, because it lowered the risk of developing a food-borne illness. And also because gaining a bacteria in the gut like E. coli could lead to harmful side effects like gastroenteritis, or UTIs. )

"I'm guessing you're one of those people who also doesn't like to have their food touching?"

"You guess correctly, just thinking about it upsets me." Annie admitted, because food touching what wasn't supposed to be touched was contaminating it and she couldn't eat it because it would turn to lead in her mouth and make her stomach sick and-

"Well in my opinion, it all goes to the same place. But as my grandma says, to each his own." Finnick said with a smile full of frosting from the cake. Annie just rolled her eyes and reached out with a napkin to wipe his face.

"You've got frosting on your face." Annie informed him.

Finnick just continued to smile that utterly adorable smile that just made her either want to jump his bones, or smack the look off his face. Honestly he infuriated her, somehow being able to set off all of her triggers, and yet being so…damn nice that she couldn't fault him for it. The fact was that he was honestly trying to make this (whatever they had) work. No other guy had ever done that before, and she found it unbearably sweet.

The fact she found him sweet didn't help when she was officially losing her mind on the fated day of her first date with him.

Annie was again very thankful for her color schedule, because if she didn't have it she probably would have taken every article of clothing out of her closet in her desperation as she tried to figure out what on earth she should wear on her date with Finnick O'Daire.

But since that Saturday was a green day, she was already limited in the number of things she could choose from. After probably about three hours of changing and then unchanging she had finally decided on a grey long sleeve shirt, underneath a comfy, but warm, green military jacket, paired with dark wash jeans, brown and white fleece combat boot, and a white scarf. She threw her hair up in a messy bun, hoping that it said I-am-casual-but-still-put-in-effort, and gave a valiant attempt with natural looking makeup. She sent the picture of her finished product to her group chat with her friends, who all applauded her choices, and she was glad because she needed other people to approve of it otherwise she would be thinking all night about the other outfits she could have chosen and Finnick thinking that she wasn't well dressed or that she wasn't taking this seriously because she most definitely_ was_.

5:01.

She was nearly scared out of her skin when the doorbell rang. She yanked her purse from the bed, ran downstairs and opened the door quickly.

And there was Finnick O'Daire.

He looked just as perfect as usual, and of course he didn't have to work on it for three hours to achieve it. That was the thing about Finnick. He was so goddamn effortlessly stunning that it could make a girl believe in the validity of romance novel plots and take for truth the insane logic of every other song of the radio. And maybe the best or worst thing about him was that he was perfectly aware of it, and yet in at least her presence he didn't carry himself with the pomp and circumstance he could have. He almost seemed to find it funny when the so called "Finn Fan Club" came to his swim meets with his name slathered in paint on their bellies, or when girls gave him scores when they walked down the street together.

Annie wouldn't consider herself ugly by any stretch of the imagination, bedraggled at some points yes, but ugly no. And she was obviously somewhat attractive to the opposite gender, because during her rebellious stage in her sophomore year (who didn't have one of those) she had a string of boyfriends who thought she was pretty enough until she realized that studying for her SATs was actually way more important than making out in the hallways and going on pseudo dates, and that sex wasn't something Annie was totally comfortable doing because she was like only sixteen and basically didn't want to have sex with other children. But she had definitely not had the experiences Finnick had had, nor did she really understand what his so very gorgeous self found so attractive in her.

"Hey. What's up?" Finnick asked, leaning against the door frame before Annie gave him a roll of the eyes as she made sure to tap the frame three times, lock and unlock the door before locking it again and trying to open it, satisfied with the safely locked door.

"Oh you know, just about to go on a date." Annie said, mentally running back over her checklist. She had locked the door, checked the ovens, the coffee maker, and the other electrical appliances and they weren't running, she remembered this because when she did so she had shoved a chapstick in her pocket which was there now. Annie had checked in with her parents, making sure they were at the hotel for their meeting for their firm. Cora was at a friend's house, and Kai was with his girlfriend. With everything accounted for, and a list of chores she hadn't finished but would get to put on the fridge, she was totally ready to go.

"What a lucky guy." Finnick commented, breaking her from her mind, eyes alight in humor.

"I know right?" Annie agreed before looking past him to the car parked at the curb, and felt her eyebrows raise. "A Cadillac? Very fitting."

"It's my Grandma Mags'. I can't wait till you meet her. You'll absolutely adore her." Finnick laughed as Annie wiped her boots thoroughly on the mat on the front door before Finnick and her began the walk to his car, "And on that note, are you ready for the best first date of your life?"

"I think so." Annie said with a smile back.

5:07.

They took off.

* * *

**So where has OMGitsgreen been this past little while?**

**Actually, I was in Puerto Rico on my training trip for my college team. Without my computer, enjoying the beach, along with four hours + per day of grueling training. It gave me a very well needed break, though I did write up a couple blurbs of an oneshot Odesta AU much more in the vein of Adrift, then RY. Maybe I'll get that up at one point. If anyone wants me to post another Odesta fantasy AU in the future, let me know. Or not, if you don't read my ANs. Though if you do read my ANs, you probably know me by now, and that fic will be uploaded whether people want it or not. THE PLOT BUNNIES ALWAYS PREVAIL.**

**And while I was relaxing on the beach in my bikini and 85 SPF suntan lotion (yes that stuff actually exists and I have to use it because I'm whiter then mayo) and actually living through an earthquake (yep. Another natural disaster I can check off my ongoing list of things I've lived through), while my homeland of New England was slammed with a freaking polar vortex I realized to my delight that the last chapter got ten reviews. Ten reviews! That's astounding to me (even more so then the fact that I got a little color). Keep it up guys!**

**Now what other people are probably wondering is, WHY THE HECK HAVEN'T YOU UPDATED REACHING YOU? Well my answer is…the end of that story is coming up way too quickly and I'm procrastinating damnit, so let me procrastinate in my own little way. But don't worry, a new chapter is in the works and shall be updated in the near future.**

**So Finnick and Annie's first date? What will happen? DUH DUH DUH.**

**Also other notes: The beginning is very much influenced by some papers I've read that document such thought compulsions at young ages for people who eventually develop full blown OCD. **

**As always, reviews are love. Please leave a review to let me know you care, and until next time ~OMGitsgreen**


	4. Two Blushing Pilgrims

_Two Blushing Pilgrims_

* * *

5:09.

The inside of Finnick's grandmother's car smelt of salt water taffy and pine tree air freshener. A scent that was strangely comforting as Finnick leisurely drove, one hand on the wheel, the other one typing out the rhythm to Buddy Holly. A strand of rosary beads hung from the rear-view mirror, and the compartments on the side doors were filled with different CDs. One side full of folk music and the other with rock bands. Finnick gave her a cheerful smile.

"So, tell me about your day." Finnick said and Annie gave him a roll of her eyes.

"I decided to play sick and skip school today. I goaded my depressed best friend into taking his parent's car to fool the school so I could take my significant other out on the town, though apparently the Dean went to go check and got attacked by our family dog. In any case, I experienced a fun day on the town, and managed to get back in bed before my parents suspected anything." Annie said vaguely, and she heard Finnick start to cackle next to her.

"Ha-ha, I wonder where I've heard a story like that before."

"No idea. But I did watch a couple movies after finishing my homework, before getting dressed and getting in your car." Annie said with a smile all her own.

"And hopefully this is just a continuation of that rather good day." Finnick said before slowing down as he hit a red light and looking at her, "You look beautiful."

At that Annie blushed and tugged at a stray lock of hair that had fallen from her bun. She had the urge to tell Finnick that she was no such thing. She wasn't beautiful, she was average. Her hair was impossible and her skin was so dry and she had to keep a bottle of hand lotion on hand or else she would bleed everywhere and it was disgusting so disgusting that sometimes she couldn't believe that those hands were hers and she just wasn't one of those girls who just woke up looking presentable but had to waste hours fretting over every single thing or it'd be wrong and it'd be all wrong and she just couldn't handle it-

"Thank you." Annie said instead, "You clean up rather nicely yourself. I also don't mind it when your button downs are buttoned correctly."

"Annie, might you be…perhaps, _flirting_ with me?" Finnick asked with a suggestive eye wiggle that had Annie spluttering out an incomprehensible answer and Finnick chuckled as he pulled into the ice rink.

5:14.

He parked the car and before Annie could do anything he was out of the car, opening her door all close to seven feet of him towering over her as he held out his hands. Annie couldn't stop her eyebrow from quirking up.

"You're kidding me." Annie said, staring at him as if he had just grown another head. His hand. His hand was large and probably twice the size of hers, but she couldn't imagine touching his hand because her skin was cracked and had just bled earlier and what if he caught something from her?

"Nope, I am not kidding you." Finnick said, holding his hand out.

"Finnick, I'm not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I can manage getting out of your car." Annie said trying to hide her panic by women's studies defense but Finnick just gave her a shit-eating grin.

"Nope, I'm absolutely insisting."

5:17.

Thirteen. Thirteen was a bad number, just as bad as seven. Because seven is bad because it is odd and prime and can't be cleanly divided and so it's bad just like this situation and she just couldn't handle it but if she said something then he would think she was a freak.

"I-I can't." She said, shrinking into herself, feeling sweat beginning to collect at the nape of her neck. Her hands were raw and disgusting and he shouldn't touch them. His eyes widened in sudden understanding and he dug into his pocket.

"Jesus, Ann. If something's bothering you just say it." Finnick said, pulling out leather gloves and slipping them on before holding out his hand and saying, "There we go. Is that better?"

Annie didn't tell him that it wasn't better because that was just admitting that she was weird and couldn't manage to even touch his hand with hers goddamnit, but instead just took his hand and exited the car, and he closed the door behind him. She expected him to let go, but instead she felt his fingers sheathed in leather slowly move to intertwine with hers. He gave her a look, as if waiting for her to protest or move away, but she couldn't say she wanted too. His hand, even though the leather obscured his flesh, was wonderfully warm.

The ice rink was a popular spot, especially on free skate night. Finnick couldn't help but inspire chuckles from parents and panic in the rental place as he showed off his size fourteen feet. Annie really did notice then how absolutely gigantic Finnick was in comparison to her and as they got out on the ice Annie couldn't help but ask,

"How tall are you anyways?"

"Six foot seven, why?" Finnick asked before yelping as his feet nearly slid out from underneath him right there and Annie literally had to yank him back up into a standing position.

"I don't know, you're just huge." Annie said, voice still caught in a laugh as he gripped the railing.

"Six foot seven, 230 pounds, size fourteen feet, with a six foot eleven inch wingspan." Finnick explained before giving a crooked smile and flexing his bicep, "The dimensions of a champion, baby."

"A champion, right. Call yourself that after you make the Olympics." Annie said, jabbing him in the side with her elbow though not too hard or else she might bruise him and bruising was internal bleeding which was like all the veins inside rupturing but Finnick laughed and took her hand again, tentatively sliding across the ice.

"I'm half way there." He announced, "Got my Olympic trials cuts, now just got to bring the pain. How tall are you?"

"Five foot five." Annie admitted, and heard Finnick snort to hide his chuckle and she glared at him, "Five foot five is not short."

"You're not short. You're fun sized."

"Just about everyone is short compared to you. You've got a solid six or seven inches on my father." Annie protested, "And besides, I can't help it if I look like I belong in the fifth grade in comparison to you. Hell, most of the people here probably think I'm your little sister of something."

"I don't think many older brothers hold their younger sister's hands and gaze longingly into their eyes."

"Since when do you gaze longingly into my eyes?" Annie asked with a quirk of her brow.

"Since like all the time. And holy shit you can do that thing where you move only one eyebrow. That's fucking awesome." Finnick ranted and Annie laughed.

"Never mind, I think I know which one of us belongs in the fifth grade."

They skated around the rink, sticking close to the railing for Finnick's benefit, who claimed that if he busted his face he would be in a world of hurt at practice. For a while they were quiet, both just enjoying each other's company before Finnick suddenly said,

"Tell me something else about you that I don't know."

6:34.

"Well give me a second to think. I can't just come up with something on the spot." Annie muttered before saying, "I'm a cat person."

"No way. Annie, I think this might just be the great divide in our relationship." Finnick said extremely seriously, which caused Annie to laugh.

"Let me guess, you're a dog person?"

"Man's best friend, baby. Probably the single person I miss most at home is my dog. Now I'll literally give you ten bucks if you guess my dog's name." Finnick said and Annie rolled her eyes.

"Buddy?"

"Oooh! So close! As far as we can tell Irish wolfhound mix named Maximus. I just call him Max. He's the most magnificent, best dog on the planet." Finnick said, his eyes full happiness. "I actually got a picture on my phone if you want to see."

"Sure." Annie said, as Finnick reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone and show her a picture of a gigantic, scruffy, happy looking dog next to an equally gigantic, scruffy, happy looking Finnick who was rocking the flannels and the six o'clock shadow. The sight was as adorable as it was equally attractive. "Nice beard going there."

"Hey, it was no shave November. It's basically a national holiday." Finnick protested before shoving his phone in his pocket. "Got any cats?"

"I had one named Oliver. He died two years ago and just never got around to getting another one." Annie said with a shrug.

"I'm sorry. That majorly blows."

"It did." Annie said, "But life works like that. Besides, he was an older shelter cat and he lived happily the rest of his life. Can't really ask for more."

"I know what you mean. Well, Max is totally cool with cats. My mom has one named Angel so whenever I go to her house he really likes her. Though Kyle, who is my step dad isn't the hugest fan. He's always scared that Max will bite Brooke and Adrienne…my younger half-sisters." He explained with a shrug. "My dad and Kendra keep Max."

"Is Kendra your step mom?"

"Nah, my dad's girlfriend." Finnick said, his jaw set and eyes dark. Getting the sense that this was not the conversation he wanted to have, she let it drop right there.

"Well, in any case, how about you? One thing I wouldn't know." Annie said and Finnick's eyes suddenly lightened right back up.

"How about…oh! Once I got my hat stolen by a sea turtle." Finnick said and she stared at him.

"A sea…turtle?"

"Yep! I was sailing in the Caribbean with some of my friends and decided to take a break at this cove for lunch. So I took off my hat for a second and started to open up my lunch box and I looked to my right and my hat was gone. I jumped up, dropping my sandwich, and turned around only to see a sea turtle swimming away with it in its mouth. So in conclusion, most of my lunch got ruined and a sea turtle got my hat." Finnick explained and Annie couldn't help but smile.

"Sailing sounds like fun." Annie said gently, "I've never been before."

"I'll totally take you in the summer." Finnick said excitedly, "Now that would be fun."

"Are you not having fun now?" Annie teased, and Finnick smiled back at her, blushing slightly as he fumbled.

"Oh I definitely am. It's just that…sailing plays a little more to my strengths." Finnick said, and Annie couldn't really help but agree. Ice skating was definitely not for Finnick. But, she thought, it really was adorable to see him try. But she was glad he wasn't trying too hard because it would be like the free skate days at the college were the college guys would literally fall all over each other and Annie couldn't help but see the images of Finnick getting sliced by a skate and bleeding or his head hitting the ice and cracking open.

Suddenly she felt a warm tug on her hand and she realized that Finnick was giving her a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" He asked, "You just got that look."

"What look?" Annie asked confused.

"Like you're not here. Like you go somewhere else. Does it have to do with…?" Finnick asked tentatively and Annie sighed, biting on her bottom lip for a moment, trying to regain her composure as they picked up their former pace.

"Yeah. Sorry, sometimes I just get kind of…lost." Annie said quietly.

"You don't need to tell me if you're uncomfortable…but…what's it like?"

"No I don't mind." Annie said with a sigh, "It's probably better to explain now then later. There are almost like two things that go on. I think of it as the rabbit and the wasp."

"Rabbits and wasps?"

"When I follow the rabbit, it's when I start thinking in circles. Those are my mental compulsions. The things I say in my head, my check lists, those are all parts of that. Then the wasps are my intrusive thoughts. Those are things like, if I'm washing the dishes, I'll suddenly get a thought that if I don't clean it correctly the next person eats of it will get sick." Annie said as if at one of those God awful group sessions her mother had tried to get her involved with for "Teens with Emotional Distress", "More often than not, one thing will trigger the other. Like the thought about the dish will turn into my mental compulsion which will cause me to have to ritualize."

"And do you ever try to stop yourself?" Finnick asked and Annie scoffed.

"Of course. Do you think I like it? I know that it's all stupid and irrational. I can stop but it causes me a lot of anxiety. It's like, if I don't do something someone I love will die or get injured or sick. Most of the time it's just not worth the fight." Annie said bitterly. "That's what's wrong with the way people think about OCD. It's not that I like to have my closet organized or something like that, it's that I need to do certain things otherwise it's a life or death situation."

"That's rough." Finnick said, not trying to say he was sorry or sympathize, which was a huge relief, before adding to her surprise, "If there's anything I ever do that triggers your anxiety, just tell me. Is the hand touching thing one of them?"

"No…well yes. The reason is kind of gross."

"Go for it. I dare you. I doubt anything you say could gross me out." Finnick said and Annie felt a smile tug at her lips.

"Well…it's just that my hands get cracked and bleed in the winter. And I…um…wash my hands a lot so that makes it worse. I don't think you want to touch my gross hands." Annie explained, feeling her ears heat with her shame.

And then suddenly to her surprise Finnick stepped out of the rink on one of the doors, yanking Annie off the ice. He pulled off his gloves, reaching out with one hand to touch her disgusting raw red cracked hands and she felt her heart pounding because it was so disgusting and how could he be touching them and she needed to get away or else he would catch something and all she could see was her blood oozing from the cracks there and infecting him and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three-

Finnick snuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a tiny jar of Vaseline, taking a dollop of the lotion, and massaging it into her hands with his own fingers. There was no blood or cracks or any fear in his fingertips, just her tiny, cold, limp, child sized hands enveloped in his huge, warm, fingers.

"There we go. Works like a charm." Finnick hummed, as if totally content. A jolt ran through her entire body as the pad of his thumb gently pressed against her palm, and then to her complete shock he raised her foul revolting disgusting disgusting disgusting hands to his mouth and breathed out, allowing his breath to warm her fingers, and sending jittering shocks of electricity through her body and causing an involuntary shiver to run up her spine.

She was staring at him now, as he breathed out again, and as if noticing her shock for the first time he gave her hands a squeeze and gave her a sweet grin.

"Your hands are cold." He explained, and Annie wanted to scream at him because of course they were cold and they were absolutely disgusting and _what on Earth was he doing_ before he continued, "Cold hands, warm heart."

Annie wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in her throat. What should she say in this sort of situation? For once it was all a blank. All she could think about was how good his hands felt, and how good his hands would feel on every part of her. Finnick smiled, his gorgeous, delectable looking lips tugging up. He had brought her hands up to his mouth so he couldn't think her hands were disgusting, but how could he not think that? How could he be so…so…?

A kid bumped into Annie, breaking her trance. She yanked her hands from his grasp and cleared her throat.

"I…um…thank you." Annie said, her cheeks flushed with heat and at her embarrassment Finnick shoved the lotion back into his jacket before shoving his hands in his pockets.

"No problem." Finnick said before adding, "Your hands…they don't gross me out. They're small and cute….and I'm being really awkward aren't I? I swear to God I don't have a hand fetish."

Annie couldn't help but start to crack up, and Finnick gave a smile in return.

"What?" Finnick asked and Annie rolled her eyes and bumped her hip with his.

"You're just ridiculously sweet." Annie said quietly before adding, "You want to go get dinner?"

"Sure. Sounds good." Finnick said turning to hobble back to the skate rentals.

Finnick didn't reach out to grasp her hand, though he did continue to open doors for her, waiting patiently as she tapped.

He drove them to the restaurant that Annie had chosen. They spent the rest of their date talking about their interests and likes, and Annie indulged him by allowing him to pay for their meal. Then, he drove her back home, parking the car on the curb as the porch lights sparkled against the tiny dusting of snow on the ground.

9:01.

"I would walk you to your door, but I think I know you well enough to know that isn't something you want."

"You guess correctly." Annie laughed, "I…had fun tonight. Thank you, Finnick."

"Up to doing it again sometime?" Finnick asked hopefully and Annie smiled.

"Anytime." Annie said, and was she imagining that his eyes darted down for a moment. At her lips? Maybe she was also imagining the sudden heaviness of the air between them, of the shiver that ran down her spine, not from cold, from anticipation. She shouldn't expect a kiss from him. That would be just too outlandish. Besides, her lips were cracked and dried from the weather and from her biting them. He shouldn't want to kiss her. He would go home, and she should go back inside because she needed to go and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, and then she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dry from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs and kissing Finnick O'Daire was a bad idea. Kissing him was a bad idea because even though he had said he liked her she wasn't sure if it was like or _like_ like and she didn't want him to feel like he had any sort of obligation to her if he didn't feel like he wanted to continue whatever they were doing and-

"Annie." The way he said it brought her back to the present with a start. She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. His mouth parted, tongue darting out to wet his gorgeous lips. Sudden hunger gnawed at her gut, tugging deep inside of her. She wanted his mouth on hers, more than anything. She didn't know whether or not he noticed her focus, but he bent down and she pressed up on the balls of her feet. Her breath caught as his lips brushed against hers and then pressed firmly.

They were as perfect as she imagined they would be. He tasted so much like the cherry salt water taffy he had stored in his car cup holder, and it was so enticing she could hardly handle how good it was. She could feel her heart, like a tiny bird flapping wildly in her chest as if attempting to break free of the cage of her ribs, and hand itself right over to him and his perfect goofy crooked smile, and hands that grasped hers without hesitation, and kind, warm, beautiful eyes.

They pulled away to breathe. Finnick's eyes were wide, and he released a shaky breath.

"Wow." Finnick said, quietly.

"Yeah." She agreed rather anticlimactically, blushing, fixing her purse on her shoulder. "I'll see you later?"

Annie turned to go to her door when Finnick suddenly caught her hand. He pulled her to him pressing his lips against hers again. Annie intertwined her fingers in his soft, luscious curls, and his hands touched her waist as her toes curled, before Annie took a step back.

"Good night, Finnick." Annie said, and Finnick smiled right back at her.

"Good night, Annie." Finnick said, as Annie gave him a final peck before walking back into his house, tapping once before closing the door behind her. She couldn't help but touch her tingling lips as she peaked over at the window, only to see Finnick fist pumping outside.

Annie couldn't help but smile.

9:05.

* * *

"You little bitch! You totally tapped Finnick O'Daire's gorgeous ass!" Johanna said, rushing up to Annie as they walked to the Arts center, nearly putting Annie in a choke hold.

"I didn't tap anything!" Annie said, looking around at the large group of people who were staring at them and turned crimson. "We just kissed."

"Like how much did you kiss? Like lips touching or eating each other's faces? And how much petting was involved?" Johanna asked and Annie scoffed.

"Just lips. No tongue, and definitely no petting. It was just a good night kiss!"

"So you totally wasted the opportunity to fuck the most gorgeous guy on this side of the planet?"

"I don't want to fuck anyone! It's not like that!" Annie said sternly and Johanna rolled her eyes.

"Annie, this is Finnick O'Daire we're talking about. Voted number one Hottest Single by every sorority on campus. His transgressions have basically risen into legendary status. I mean, did you not hear about last spring break? He's fucked his way through every eligible hot girl on campus, and they always want more." Johanna said, "And you're telling me all you did last night was give him a good night kiss?"

"Yes." Annie said firmly, "That's all that happened, and there was no other intent. We went on a date, he took me home, we kissed good night, and that was it."

"Such a wasted opportunity." Johanna sighed, "You have to be mental to pass that up."

Annie rolled her eyes as they walked into the classroom. Annie took her regular seat next, pulling out her notebook and organizing her pens. It was just then that Finnick walked in. Annie expected there to be a tiny hint of awkwardness, but instead he smiled a brilliant smile and sat down right next to Annie.

"Good morning ladies." He greeted easily, and Johanna gave him a mock salute.

"Morning Finnick." Annie said back.

"So, I was thinking… on Friday we have a home meet. I was wondering if you would want to go." Finnick asked and Annie blinked.

"To your swim meet?" Annie asked surprised, before frowning, "I'm sorry. This Friday I have to go to a doctor's appointment."

The disappointment was obvious in Finnick's features, and she felt her stomach twist up in guilt but there was nothing she could do. She had to go to her doctor's appointment, otherwise she ran the risk of getting behind on her vaccinations, and if she did that then she could catch an awful disease like meningitis or tetanus or HPV and then she would be sick or infect her family and then burden them with the costs and she couldn't do that because that would be irresponsible, and possibly worse than all of those things she needed to make sure she was refilled for her antianxiety and antidepressant medications which were one of the only things that kept her grounded to this earth like a weight on the end of a balloon string and if she didn't get them refilled the string would be snipped away and she would be torn away from reality and completely lose control because her existence was really that precarious like the string and the balloon and if she wasn't careful she would explode and destroy everything in her path.

Class went on as normal, and Finnick acted as normal as ever. Annie honestly started to think that maybe he had forgotten about the blisteringly hot kiss they had shared. As they walked out of the Arts Center, and Annie was so absorbed in those thoughts when suddenly a yell came from the side.

"Watch out!"

And that was when Annie was smacked in the side by a snow ball and effectively slipped and fell right on her ass.

A couple of fraternity guys, obviously in the middle of a snowball fight hastily apologized before returning to their competition, leaving Finnick to have to help her off the ground.

"Jesus, I'm soaked." Annie groaned, peeling off her sopping wet sweatshirt and shivering as the winter air stung her skin.

"Shit, wait. Here." Finnick said, taking off his letterman jacket and offering it to her, "Take this. You can't go walking around like that."

"What about you?" Annie demanded, and he smiled.

"I'm going to swim practice. I've got my warm up in my locker." Finnick said as Annie put his jacket on.

"Thank you." She said, rolling up the sleeves. Just like him, the jacket was gigantic. It fell nearly to her knees and the cuffs had to be rolled up multiple times to see her fingers.

"Oh, here." Finnick said, popping her collar jokingly. "Now no one will mess with you."

"Ha ha, funny." Annie laughed, as he fixed the collar of his jacket, his fingers brushing her collarbone.

"See you later?" He asked quietly and she smiled a strange, wobbly smile at him, because all she could think of was how nice it would be if he kissed her again.

But they didn't kiss, and she smiled at him.

"Yeah. See you later."

She went to her car and she drove back home carefully, making sure to obey all of the speed limits. When she got home she parked her car in the same spot she always did, tapping the door as she left and the wheel with her foot before walking inside, tapping on the door, making sure she wiped her shoes thoroughly. Her brother was sitting on the couch playing some sort of video game on the screen.

"Hi." Annie greeted and Kai didn't even look at her.

"How much did you pay that guy last night to pretend to be your boyfriend?" Kai scoffed and Annie felt her face heat up.

"First off, he isn't my boyfriend. And second off, what I do with my spare time is none of your concern." Annie snapped at him.

"Whatever, I'm guessing you didn't tell him how much of a freak you are." Kai snapped, and this time Annie marched around the couch, and yanked the cord that connecting his controller to his Xbox. The whole system detached from the wall and smashed on the ground.

"What the fuck?!" He screeched and Annie just shrugged.

"Oops! I'm sorry. I can't control myself. I'm crazy, remember?" Annie said in a sing-song voice as she shrugged, and her brother turned purple and steam nearly poured out of his ears.

"Fucking bitch." Kai muttered under his breath as Annie walked upstairs to her room. She sighed as she closed her door behind her and fell right on her bed.

"He's such a creep." She muttered to herself, staring up at the ceiling. She turned her head, cheek coming into contact with the collar of the jacket…Finnick's jacket, and she stilled. The scent of detergent, men's shampoo, and again cherry salt water taffy. A scent that was clean, and delicious, and nearly made her mouth water. It was the scent that had enveloped her in that kiss that had sent every nerve ending in her body on fire. The jacket too, was warm, it had been warm when Finnick had first put it upon her. Warm like his smile, his skin, his gentle large hands and fingers-

She sat up with a start.

No way in hell was she going to let herself fantasize about him. No way, no how.

She groaned and fell back on the bed. Goddamn perfect, stupid, wonderful Finnick O'Daire. She couldn't help but see his disappointed frown again and again.

Annie had to do something.

* * *

Did you know that doctor's offices are cesspools of bacterium?

It makes sense when you think about it. People who are sick go to the doctors. Sick people who don't care where they sneeze or touch or cough, spreading infection and virus and contamination go to the doctor. And like sponges, innocent perfectly healthy people absorb the sickness like sponges. Annie sat in the car as long as she possibly could, even though her appointment was at 12:30 and it was 12:20 and being late was sloppy and unacceptable but her nails were digging into the wheel and she sat there, locked in absolute terror because she couldn't do it she couldn't walk in there and then she would get sick and she couldn't, she wouldn't but she had to.

After another agonizing minute, Annie woodenly got out of the car, making sure to tap the wheel and lock the doors. She was thankful for her gloves as she opened the door, holding her breath as she walked past a woman with a disgusting cough that rattled her chest. And bile rose in Annie's throat as she stood there locked in fear as she watched the woman cough and cough, the lungs probably rotting in her lungs and she couldn't do this she couldn't. The secretary behind the sliding window looked at her pleasantly, before her expression turned concerned as she slide open the window.

"What's your name, sweetheart? Are you hear for a walk in?"

"No…no, I'm here for an appointment." She said, placing her shaking, gloved hands on the counter, steadying herself because she felt weak and nauseous.

"What's your name?"

"Annie Cresta." She said, feeling a cold sweat breaking out and rooting herself to the spot because otherwise she would run back out to her car. The nurse asked her the normal questions, and then let Annie go into the waiting room but she couldn't because the faces were spinning and all she could see was sickness everywhere slathered all over the walls, dripping down like black pus, filling the air with spores, infecting her and everything.

She ran to the bathroom, locking the door. She gripped the sink, turning the knob and wetting a towel. She patted her face with the towel, before throwing it out, before peeling off her gloves and washing her hands, shoving her gloves into her pants pocket because she couldn't put it in the jacket's pocket because-

She touched the sleeve bringing the collar to her face and breathing in. Finnick's scent soothed her, and she hugged herself to bring it closer.

God, it was embarrassing. She had washed it last night with all of her clothes, and had put it in a plastic bag and was going to give it back to him if she could get to the meet after this appointment…and she shouldn't be wearing it because what if he caught something because she had worn it here? But… it was so comforting. Annie could always lie, bring it back to her house and wash it again. She had just needed something to get her through this so she could get to his swim meet.

She walked back out to the waiting room, standing apart from everyone else and not touching anything until the nurse called her name at 12:42.

Then she waited in the room, nervously rocking on her heels, not willing to sit on the bench-thing as she was handed a sheet that was filled with questions as she changed into her smock.

_Do you feel physically restless or rundown?_ Yes.

_Do you experience insomnia or excessive sleep every day?_ Yes.

_Problems with concentration or making decisions almost every day? _Yes.

_Do you have loss of enjoyment of things that were once pleasurable?_ Yes. But I'm always miserable, so it doesn't really matter.

_On a scale of 1 which is hardly never to five which is constantly, how would you rate your anxiety?_ How about a solid 10?

_Do you experience feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or guilt on a constant bases?_ Well, golly gee. Thanks for fucking reminding me.

By the time her doctor, a nice woman by the name of Dr. Mallard came in, closing the door behind her.

"Hello, Annie. How are you feeling today?" She asked and Annie swallowed.

"Um…not good. The whole doctor's office thing." Annie said and the doctor nodded in understanding.

"But you did come here by yourself. That is certainly a big accomplishment." Her doctor said and Annie managed a wobbly smile.

"My psychiatrist said I should try to push myself." Annie said, rocking back on her palms.

"You're doing a good job. How's school going?"

"Very good." Annie said quietly.

"Eating well? No loss of appetite?"

"Yes and yes."

"Still on your regular medications?"

"Yes, and I need refills of both."

"Alright, I can get that call in. You're still going to the CVS on Main St.?"

"Yes." Annie said, breathing out in relief as her first priority was taken care of.

"Alright, how much exercise would you say you're getting on a daily basis?"

"1-2 hours a day. I run, use an elliptical, and weight lift."

"Any aches or pains or anything else I should be aware of?"

"No."

"How about your periods? Still coming regularly? You're on birth control, correct?"

"Yes and yes."

"Have you been sexual active recently, or are going to be?"

Annie stared at her.

"Um…well…" Annie was wracking her brain for an appropriate answer. She was sort of in a relationship, but they certainly hadn't had sex or had talked about it. "Potentially."

"Alright, as you know I recommend a trip to the gynecologist and tests for both of you."

"Yes of course."

"Alright, now let's get on with the physical exam, and I'll get your shots ready."

The physical exam went without a hitch, and Annie kept nervously looking at the clock (more than usual) because if this didn't move along faster she would completely miss Finnick's swim meet. After the exam, Dr. Mallard left and she was forced to wait for another agonizing ten minutes as the nurse lackadaisically came in with her shots and disinfected her arm.

"Alright sweetie, make sure to keep your arm loose alright?" She said, and Annie tried to do that because she needed to get this done to keep everyone safe but the nurse was literally poking holes that could get infected into her arm and injecting illness into her arm by a hollow needle and-

A prick of pain, and then it was done. She took a shaky breath as another prick came, and then the nurse wiped down her arm, and applied bandages.

"Alright you're all set." She announced and Annie nearly ran passed her, running to the window, setting up her next appointment, and then running to her car.

1:42.

Shit. She thought, absolutely panicked. She wasn't going to get there on time. Annie was going to miss his meet completely!

And so Annie did something that wasn't normal at all.

Annie drove five miles over the speed limit, but it didn't seem to help. She was hitting every single goddamn light on the way to the college. She wasn't going to make it. In fact, she might get there two years later. With a growl of frustration Annie stepped on the gas, ignoring the screaming voices in her head because she needed to get there.

Annie flashed her ID when she finally got through the gate, doing the worst parking job of her life, before running to the athletic center, not even caring that she was frazzled and still wearing Finnick's jacket.

Annie finally made it to the pool…and it was packed.

She pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring how sweaty gross disgusting it was until Annie could see the pool, the men's 400 freestyle relays appearing at the end of the lanes behind the blocks, and then the scoreboard.

The meet was coming down to the last relay. A relay that Finnick was anchoring.

A whistle blew, and the first swimmers got up on the block.

"Men's four hundred freestyle relay." The official announced, "Swimmers, take your mark."

The first swimmers went down, and for a moment the entire pool went completely silent. Then, the buzzer went off and the swimmers dove into the water. For the first leg the Mockingjays were a little ahead, and then during the second leg of the relay the other team was a little ahead. By the third leg the teams were neck in neck, stroke for stroke. Annie saw Finnick at the block, face tense as he pressed his goggles upon his face.

"Finnick!" Annie screamed, and even though the pool was so loud Finnick's head snapped up to look right at her, "Kick some ass!"

A goofy grin spread across his face, and he got up on the block as the two swimmers flip turned at the wall in near synchrony. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs as the third legs of the relays swam into the wall.

Finnick stepped into his start, swinging his arms, and was airborne before slicing through the water in a perfect streamline. It was a sight to behold, really. Finnick was truly a creature of the water. His powerful arms and legs propelling him so quickly that it was nearly unreal. The two of the swimmers were neck in neck, neither of them giving in, until they slammed into the wall.

The scoreboard froze, and the entire pool waited in baited breath until numbers lit up the screen.

Finnick had won by .03.

The bleachers erupted into cheers, as did Annie. Finnick was pulled out of the water, slapping high fives to his other team mates and getting hugs. He walked out of the pool, down the side, to the bleachers as someone threw him his towel and he put it over his shoulders. Annie assumed he was going to talk to his parents, however instead he walked right up to her.

"Nice jacket." He said, his breath still coming quickly, his face flushed with exertion.

"Great job out there." Annie choked, trying to unstick the words from her throat, as the sight of his gorgeous, nearly naked body glued them there. He gave a brilliant smile.

"Hey Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming." He said and Annie smiled and rolled her eyes.

"You're such an idiot." She said, pulling him down by his towel, and into a kiss.

Annie could feel his lips smiling against hers even then.

* * *

**Guess whose back? Back again. Guess whose back? Tell a friend.**

**Dr. Mallard. Get it? Because she's a quack? HAHA I'M SO FUNNY. lol, I just had no idea what to name her. **

**Not much to say about this chapter except I hope you enjoyed. Please, review! Every review shows you care and it always mean a lot to me. Also this chapter was freaking long. It just ended up monumental. Meh. The snow gods blessed me with a college closing so I thought I'd make it up my lack of updates up to you guys.**

**Thanks for all the love, and as usual, until next time! ~OMGitsgreen**


	5. siege of loving terms

_siege of loving terms_

* * *

"Annie Cresta! Is that you?" A voice called as Annie was looking at her options of shredded cheese at the grocery store because some types had more sodium then others which could lead to higher cholesterol and heart diseases while others were on sale and she didn't want to get the most expensive one because that would just be wasteful. Annie twirled around to see Mrs. Sherman, a woman that she had most especially not ever wanted to see. She was one of those PTA, God-fearing, housewives who lived in their neighborhood and couldn't keep her nose in her own damn business. Annie took a deep breath, and tried to steady her hands as she turned around and tried to smile.

3:04.

"Hi, Mrs. Sherman." Annie greeted as pleasantly as possible.

"Oh sweetheart, you look so grown up!" Mrs. Sherman said, "So beautiful. Tell me, how's school going?"

"Good, good. I'm getting my degree in engineering." Annie answered shortly, tucking a hair behind her ear, hoping her lack of enthusiasm would make Mrs. Sherman go away.

"That's wonderful, Annie." Mrs. Sherman said, "I always knew you were meant for great things, sweetheart. You're an inspiration."

"Inspiration?" Annie asked, befuddled.

"With what you're dealing with, sweetheart. You know, God gives greater challenges to some people. And you make everyone who knows you so proud." Mrs. Sherman said, and Annie stared at her in actual disbelief before she felt herself flush with embarrassment and anger. She wanted to physically attack this dumb woman because what on Earth did she know? What did this woman know about challenges? The people who lived with her day in and day out weren't proud of her, they were desperately dreaming that one day that her OCD could be cured, even though it never would. And most especially why on Earth did she think she had the authority to be the mouthpiece for God? Because God should know by now that Annie didn't believe in Him and would appreciate it far more that on the off chance he did exist that he could stop being interested in giving a challenge to insignificant Annie Cresta and focus his energy on doing something meaningful like solving world hunger. This was exactly the precise reason why Annie had stopped going to Church in the first place because it didn't make any sense and she didn't want to talk to Mrs. Sherman anymore all she wanted was to go home and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, and she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dry from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs and then she would go to bed and she would try to forget she had ever seen Mrs. Sherman.

These were the people that Annie hated the most. The people who lived thinking that they were good and tolerant, when in fact it was they were being completely condescending.

3:06.

Annie gave her best smile.

"Thank you, Mrs. Sherman." Annie said and just before Mrs. Sherman could continue to the conversation Annie's mother walked down the aisle, with the cart.

"Ah, hello Andrea." Annie's mother greeted pleasantly, and Mrs. Sherman looked positively delighted.

"Laurie! How are you?"

"Good, good. Kai is bringing his first girlfriend over for dinner, so we're just picking up some things." Her mother explained and Mrs. Sherman sighed dreamily.

"Ah, I remember those days. It was so stressful going through them, but now with all of my boys out of the house how I wouldn't dream to go back. And you know, speaking of which, Annie, you know my youngest son Kyle. You two all but grew up together. He's also in an engineering major, you know. He's coming to visit from WPI on Valentine's Day weekend and I'm sure he'd love to hang out or whatever you kids do nowadays." Mrs. Sherman said and Annie flushed with embarrassment because this was so embarrassing and Kyle Sherman was the last person on earth she would go out with because in 3rd grade he had fallen off his bike and then scraped up his hands and then tried to touch Annie when he was bleeding and that was so disgusting and bad because he could've gotten an infection that way or had touched Annie with blood and that thought was enough to make her feel woozy and sick.

"I'll have to decline, Mrs. Sherman. I'm kind of already seeing someone." Annie said, with a dismissive wave of the hand.

"Lucky boy! Well, anyways, I'll leave you two to your shopping." Mrs. Sherman said before flouncing away. Annie released a sigh of relief, while her mother nudged her side.

"Since when are you seeing someone?" She asked her and Annie cleared her throat. "Is it that boy you were telling me about before?"

"Mom, you're being embarrassing." Annie said, her ears heating up.

"Will you at least tell me his name?" Her mother asked and Annie couldn't help but feel her lips tug up into a smile.

"His name is Finn, and you are not allowed to Facebook stalk him!" She said, attempting to snatch her mother's phone from her as her mom had begun typing something into her Facebook App.

"Alright, alright. But you do realize I'll have to meet him eventually." Her mother informed her, "Why don't you invite him to dinner?"

"What? With Kai and his girlfriend? He already thinks that I get all of the attention. I can't undermine this for him." Annie said with a sigh. "Besides, he's really busy with swim team. His championship is right around the corner. I'm sure he'll be at practice."

"You're a good girl." Her mother said, putting her arm around Annie's shoulders. "And the offer stands if you change your mind."

"Thanks." Annie said, as her mom squeezed her arms but not so tightly that she could possibly bruise Annie because bruising was veins bursting and internal bleeding.

"Now, let's go check out." Her mother said with a smile.

* * *

There were a few things that Annie learned about Finnick, pretty much off the bat.

Firstly, he hated wearing shoes and socks, and would've been completely content with walking around with sandals on in the middle of winter. He pretty much had the same opinion on shirts, but for the sanity of the female gender around opted to keep those on. When Annie asked him about it, Finnick told her it was just because he had grown up in Florida, and essentially lived on the beach.

Secondly, he was a night owl who was essentially forced into early-bird habits. Finnick had 6:15 morning practice every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and an 8:00 AM Saturday practice that all lasted approximately two hours give or take, and had weight lifting on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:45 for exactly one hour and on Sunday from 10:30 to 12:30. Then of course there was second practice which normally occurred later on in the day. And so as a result, he was constantly napping in between. Often times, just falling asleep at the most random times in the most random places.

Thirdly, because of his rigorous workout schedule, he was constantly eating anything and everything he could get his hands on. It was almost unheard of to find Finnick without having him chewing on something.

And finally, when he wasn't busy working out, Annie could find him in his apartment, bare feet up on his coffee table, and playing video games.

7:01.

Playing Fifa was what Finnick was currently doing, brow knitted in intensity as Annie rolled her eyes and nudged a sock that was laying on the carpet alone which was driving her crazy because socks needed to be matched otherwise how would he know which one was which?

"Finnick, when was the last time you cleaned?" She asked, arms crossed. She knew it hadn't been for a while, and even though it wasn't like he needed to clean all the time because unlike Annie he was healthy but he still needed to clean on occasion.

"Uuuuh…normally Peeta does that." Finnick said mashing the buttons on his controller, "Yes, yes, come on! Come on!"

Annie walked up behind him, putting her arms on his shoulders, squeezing them and kissing his neck four times because four was a good even number and it wasn't excessive and prime like five.

"Well I admire his patience," Annie cooed, running her hands down his front, causing him to go basically rigid, "But you want to know what I can't wait for?"

"Um, uh-" Finnick half stuttered before Annie yanked the controller out of his hand, pressed the pause button and pinched his cheek.

"I can't wait for you to get up and help me clean your apartment. Come on, get up." Annie said pushing him up, and Finnick groaned.

"Damn you." He said, giving her a fake-pointed look. "Fine, I'll clean with you and then I'll make it up by totally kicking your gorgeous butt in Just Dance."

"You think you can beat me in Just Dance?" Annie asked as she raised her eyebrow. "Yeah right."

"I have two younger sisters. I've honed my skills." Finnick said, striking a Kung-Fu pose. "Be prepared, young grasshopper."

"Well sensei, I highly doubt the man who can barely walk in a straight line sober can beat me at dancing." Annie said, sticking her tongue out and Finnick laughed before grabbing the vacuum from the closet.

"We'll just have to see about that." Finnick said, tossing her the Swiffer before grabbing the end of the vacuum and jabbing it in her direction, "En guard!"

"Touché." Annie said, smacking it with the Swiffer wet jet but not too hard or else it might knock the vacuum out of Finnick's hand and land on him and bruise him before beginning to clean.

Annie mopped around the giant rug and the TV and the couch, picking up disgusting amounts of grime, making sure go around each landmark four times exactly and to tap each thing twice with her pointer and middle finger as she went around. Then she tossed the used wet towels, and then went on to dusting. She dusted all the surfaces from right to left and from down to up, making sure to replace all of the knick knacks she moved to the place she had found them so she didn't misplace them and Finnick and his roommate could find them.

The kitchen was clean, and Finnick mentioned that his roommate kept the kitchen clean and organized as he had grown up in a bakery or something of the sort. After mopping the floor and the counters, she walked into the bathroom. She nudged the dirty laundry out of the bathroom, before mopping down the tiles, pulling out the basket full of cleaning supplies before cleaning the counter and the sink.

The medicine cabinet was open. Revealing the usual sorts of things one would expect to find. Bottles of shampoo and conditioner, shaving cream, razors still in their packages. She was thankful for that because razors left unattended could rust and if Finnick or his roommate weren't up to date on their shots they could get tetanus. She spied bottles of Advil, ibuprofen, Benadryl, and an orange bottle or pills that for some reason stood out ominously. They looked normal enough, but vaguely familiar.

7:22.

She closed the cabinet, not seeing anything that needed to be cleaned or organized. Then she reached down to the first drawer. Annie could barely stop her laughter as she saw it nearly overflowing with condoms and about five different flavors of lube.

"What are you-Shit! Shit!" Finnick yelped, reaching over to slam the cabinet close. His face went bright red as she held up one of the packets between her pointer and her middle finger.

"Expecting a fun and eventful night?" Annie teased him waving the condom in his face and he cracked a smile.

"Haha, oh yes. I'm throwing a wild orgy. Make sure you're here at ten o'clock sharp." Finnick said with that wide dimpled smile of his, snatching the condom from her grip.

"I'll keep that in mind." Annie said smiling up at him as he tossed the condom in the drawer before closing it. It was suddenly then that his whole nature changed, his shoulders straightened up, his eyes looked almost deeper and sad, and his mouth was curled into a rare frown. The change was so sudden that Annie couldn't be sure of whether what she had seen before, the smiling-laughing Finnick even existed in the first place, and it was so very concerning because had she teased him too much and was he upset at her? It had to be her fault that he was this way because Finnick was always smiling. It was her fault, she needed to go home. She needed to leave because she was hurting Finnick and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three.

"I haven't, you know?"

"Haven't what?" Annie asked, startled out of her racing thoughts.

"I haven't done it with anyone else. Not since before our first date." Finnick admitted seriously.

"Oh." Annie said, because what else could she say? They hadn't really named what their relationship was. And she knew Finnick's reputation, so she wouldn't have been surprised if he had. So this was definitely news to her.

"I'm not going to lie. I've fucked a lot of girls, and I'm not exactly proud of it. I guess you could say I've got commitment issues or some shit. It's easier to fuck for a night then try to make it work, right?" Finnick said almost bitterly, "I'm not perfect. Not by a long shot. But…I'm trying. I want to make this work between us."

"Why? Why me?" Annie asked because she was honestly curious because what on Earth did he see in her? What was so great about a girl who couldn't even look at her own hands without seeing the millions upon billions of germs that only harmed others? What was so fun about someone who couldn't even handle even the slightest deviation of plans and was absolutely stuck in her routine because she couldn't escape or else the world she had meticulously rebuilt would fall apart like a house of cards and she would never be able to build it back up again?

"Because…we get along." Finnick said, "You get the fact I have a rigorous schedule, and don't try to smother me or complain about it but just accept that I can't always hang out or answer your texts. You're kind of a nerd, like me. We both like the same kinds of movies and foods, and just like hanging out without the pomp and circumstance. You call me out on my shit. You laugh at my stupid jokes. And because you always try to help me, unless I tell you I don't need help and then you give me space until I realize that yes, I do need help because I'm absolute shit at math."

Finnick ran a hand through his hair, looking completely frustrated.

"Ugh, I'm totally fucking this up." He groaned, "What I'm trying to say is that I really like you. Like, a lot. I want to be someone important to you."

"You already are." Annie informed him. "Am I someone important to you?"

"Yeah." Finnick answered as if caught off guard.

"Well, then I guess we're all good then." Annie said, standing up on her tippy toes and craning her neck. Finnick ducked down and caught her lips with his. She trailed her hand along his jaw, feeling his scruff. He had mentioned before that he had to stop shaving before championships, but she didn't really mind. Annie personally thought his start of a beard was adorable. Annie curled her arms around his neck and sighed against his mouth as he pressed his hands to her hips.

"You're the best Annie." He murmured, squeezing her close in a tight hug.

"You know it." She joked lightly, resting her head against his chest. Annie was struck again by the overwhelming fact that she was so little in comparison to him, but he had only been gentle to her.

"Hey Finn! I'm back!" A male voice called, and Finnick gave her a smile before walking out of the bathroom, with her following behind him.

7:34.

"Hey Peeta." Finnick greeted the young man. He was their age, a bit stockier in form with bright blue eyes and the palest blonde hair she had ever seen. The smile that graced his lips was the epitome of warmth, and he smiled with his whole self. He seemed to be one of those people that could make you feel like you were the most important person in the room with just a single look.

"You must be Annie. It's really nice to meet you." He said, sticking out his hand and Annie just smiled and tried to take it without feeling her skin crawl because no one should ever want to touch her hands but she couldn't stop the overpowering urge to run back into the bathroom and scrub and scrub and scrub.

"Hi…Peter?" Annie asked and Peeta laughed, obviously not off-put by her mistake.

"Peeta, like the bread. My family owns a bakery. My two older brothers are Rye and Bannock." Peeta explained, "My mom is a little wacky."

"I see." Annie said, trying to contain her laughter.

"Don't be fooled by his sweet expression. Peeta's a bulldog on the football field. No one can tackle like this guy." Finnick teased and Peeta gave him a boyish grin in response.

"Well, excuse me if I don't spend all my day trying to look pretty in the pool." Peeta shot right back, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack before untying his well-used shoes. He had a duffle bag that smelt like locker room (man musk, bad deodorant, and sweat), and Annie vaguely hoped he would throw its contents in the washing machine because that sort of scent could make anyone feel slightly nauseous.

"It's not called being pretty it's called having technique, you asshole." Finnick laughed, elbowing Peeta in the side. Peeta gave him a little bit of a shove.

"In any case, the place actual looks clean for once. Annie, you must be a miracle worker. In return I'm going to have to make you guys dinner." Peeta announced, "How do you guys feel about pasta?"

"I say, hell to the yes." Finnick said with a smile.

"That sounds good to me." Annie said trying to muster up a smile of her own, because she was going to have to try to eat with the forks and plates and drink with the glasses here that she wasn't sure had been washed because it wasn't her house and she couldn't help the uncomfortable twisting in her gut.

"Hey Peeta? I'm going to run the dishwasher too if you don't mind." Finnick offered and Peeta nodded before turning to the kitchen.

"Yeah, of course." Peeta said, as he began to pull out ingredients. Finnick suddenly bent down and kissed her cheek, and whispered.

"I told you already, tell me when you're uncomfortable. I got you." He told her softly, and Annie was dumbfounded because how could he have guessed? Unless he was far more intuitive then she gave him credit for.

That's when it came back to her. That super cliché thing that her mother had said about the "right one". Annie didn't know if Finnick was the one, but he was the kindest, nicest, most wonderful guy she had ever met. He was considerate and always helpful, and she at least owed it to herself to give whatever they had a real shot and not hold back like she always did in fear, because what they had was worth the chance. Besides, who knew what was to come, but at least she could say she had given it her all and not live with any regrets.

And after all, fuck what her brother was going to say.

"Hey, Finn. On Thursday, do you want to come over and meet my family over dinner?" Annie nearly choked out around the lump in her throat.

"Meet a bunch of people related to you? Hell yes. Sign me up." Finnick said with a brilliant smile. "Hey, Peeta! What should I wear when I meet Annie's parents?"

"Clothes would be preferable." Peeta called back.

"No dude, I was going to walk in there with just my speedo on." Finnick scoffed with a roll of the eyes before joining Peeta in the kitchen.

**[Annie Cresta]**: _Hey mom, so would it be possible for my guy to come over for dinner?_

**[Mom]**: _Of course! Does he like steak? P.S. I knew this would happen._

**[Annie Cresta]**:_…Shut up._

* * *

Ashley was leggy, blonde (though judging by her roots Annie guessed that Ashley was just about as blonde as Annie was), and was obviously one of those "popular" girls who liked bad boys. Even though Kai was just as "bad" as a puppy, he certainly did look the part with his black tee-shirt, ripped jeans, skater shoes, and snapback and definitely had the right attitude. Annie realized that it really was just about appearances, so maybe it wasn't so bad. She was polite enough with her parents, though she cast Cora some rather dirty looks. Annie chalked that up to the fact that Cora was perhaps one of the most gorgeous girls in Panem. Cora was tall and curvy and confident, with perfect style, perfect make up, studying for a great job, and had an amazing personality on top of it all. And Ashley pretty much ignored Annie all throughout the time she had been present in the house, which was fine by Annie, because she guessed that Kai had told her just not to bother with her.

Annie was doing fine with holding back her nerves, half listening to Ashley talk about her position on the student council at their school when the doorbell rang. Annie jumped out of her seat, not even waiting for anyone to say anything before racing to the door tapping under every doorway she went through. She paused, only to take a relaxing breath and tapping on the doorway and then opened it.

5:52.

Added up to twelve, and twelve was a very good number because it could be divided by so many other good numbers. Things were looking up. Hopefully this would go as good as she hoped and her parents would like Finnick, because the idea of them not liking Finnick was nearly impossible to think about because her parents meant everything to her and she wanted their approval more than anything.

"Why, hello there." Finnick greeted before jokingly saying, "Did someone order a pizza?"

"Haha, really funny." Annie said, swallowing nervously because Finnick looked good. Amazingly good. He hadn't shaved, obviously, but under his jacket he was wearing a blue striped button up and black jeans that fit his legs snugly and nicer shoes. He didn't look like he was trying too hard, but then again he looked like he had just fallen out of an Alexander McQueen catalog.

"Don't be nervous." Finnick said with a gentle smile, tugging her hair that was in her pony tail playfully. "You're making me nervous. You're parents aren't going to kill me are they?"

"No-"

"Well hello there." Cora called from down hall, making Annie jump. She sauntered right up, hands on her hips, and gave Annie her shit-eating grin. "My, my, my. Annie, who is this?"

Before Annie could stutter out something, Finnick just gave Cora a stunningly suave smile.

"Hello," Finnick purred, "I'm Finn Nicholas O'Daire Jr. Though those acquainted with me called me Finnick. I'm the extremely handsome and lovable gentleman caller who's been courting your sister."

Cora's eyebrows shot up, and she obviously tried to contain her laughter as she called down the hall,

"Mom, Dad, Annie's boytoy is here." Cora announced to the whole world and Annie grabbed a nearby shoe and threw it at her, which Cora avoided, stuck her tongue out, and ducked back into the kitchen.

"Such a brat." Annie muttered collecting the shoe and depositing it with its pair so it wouldn't get lost because one shoe without the other wasn't right, "She acts like she's nine!"

"So I'm guessing that's Cora." Finnick said as he popped off his shoes without untying them and motioned to the coat hanger, "Can I hang my jacket here?"

"Wait, those are the parkas." Annie said, opening the closet by the door. All of the jackets were organized by color because that was much neater and she absolutely despised it when Kai and Ashley had just thrown their jackets on the basket with the gloves and hats because that wasn't neat or organized. So she placed Finnick's leather jacket with the rest of the brown jackets.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Finnick asked and Annie nodded as they walked down the hall. "This might be the first time I've ever met a girl's parents like this and I'm really nervous. Stop me if I say something stupid."

"This is the first time that I've introduced a boy to my parents like this. Stop _me_ if I say something stupid." Annie whispered to him conspiratorially, and Finnick chuckled back.

5:54.

Ashley's jaw nearly dropped at the sight of Finnick, and Kai's face immediately turned a shade of red in anger. Her father looked at him amused from behind his glasses, her mother laughed, and Cora just looked pleased.

Annie's dad got up, first to break the spell and stuck out his hand which Finnick took. It was almost comical to see them stand next to each other. Annie didn't come from a very tall family. Her father was barely five foot nine, her mom was just about five foot two, Kai at this point was just about her father's height and Cora was just about an inch shorter than that. Finnick's gigantic form was almost overwhelming in the room.

"You must be the boy my wife's been talking about. I'm Daniel Cresta." Her father introduced calmly. Annie's dad was always like that. He was soft spoken, kind, gentle, and a subscriber of the keep-calm-and-carry-on outlook on life. Nothing really phased him all that much.

"Finn O'Daire. But everyone always calls me Finnick." He introduced, "It's really nice to meet you, sir."

"Oh my God, you're that Finn O'Daire aren't you? The swimmer who's going to Olympic trials and is set to make it?" Ashley squealed, "Ohmygod! Kai, why did you not tell me your sister knew Finn O'Daire?"

"Because this is all news to me." Kai sneered. "So this is the guy you met up with the other day?"

"Kai, would it kill you to be civil?" Her mother said exasperated, before smiling gently. "I'm Laurie Cresta. I can't say my daughter's told me much about you, because she likes to keep things private, but I'm certainly glad to meet you as well."

"I'm glad to meet you too." Finnick said, taking her hand gently, as if she was something he might break. Her mother and father smiled at each other and there was something Annie couldn't place in Finnick's expression. A sort of distant longing, as if her parents had something that Finnick desperately wanted.

6:02.

Annie wondered vaguely what it could be as the oven timer rang and Annie's mom announced dinner was ready.

* * *

"So Finnick, tell me what your majoring in?" Her dad asked Finnick over dinner as Finnick ate happily, shoveling in the food with gusto. He had been gushing over the home cooked meal with such fervor that it nearly made everyone laugh previously, but was now content to stuff his face with as much food he could get his hands on. But that's just how Finnick was, he was personable, capable of nearly perfect charm and manners when he wanted to be, but childlike the rest of the time. But both her parents didn't seem to mind Finnick's childish side and were still very much under his spell.

And her parents weren't the only ones. Ashley was currently drooling over Finnick, with the intensity of the Finn Fan Club at school. As a result Kai was currently glaring at his mashed potatoes, and Cora and Annie both tried not to be too obvious in their amusement. Though Annie should feel bad about stealing Kai's thunder, she was more than glad she had brought Finnick over to meet her parents. She hadn't expected them to get on as well as they did without a tiny bit of awkwardness, but as far as she could tell it was all working out.

"Secondary Education with a focus on history." Finnick explained and Ashley frowned.

"Aren't you going to the Olympics?" Ashley asked and Finnick's shoulders tensed for just a moment.

"Well, I would like to think I am. But, it's always good to get a degree." Finnick explained lightly.

"Are your studies difficult with all of the travels?" Her mother asked worriedly.

"The school has very good resources for tutoring." Finnick said giving her side a little nudge, which made Annie nudge right back though not to hard or else she might knock something over and spill it over her mother's nice tablecloth and that would make Annie feel so guilty because she only brought it out for special occasions and she was pushing herself because her plate and glass and silverware hadn't been sterilized and she itched to tear the glass of water out of Finnick's grasp and run back to the kitchen and scrub it because this was where Annie lived and Annie was unclean and what if she got Finnick sick by having just been around his plates and forks and cups?

6:43.

Annie must've lost track of the conversation because suddenly she heard Finnick say in a loud whisper jokingly,

"And to tell you the truth, I rely on Annie quite a bit. She's a lot smarter than I am."

"Oh, come on." Annie said with a roll of her eyes trying to figure out what they had been talking about but not having a clue. "You're very smart. You got an A in your English and History classes last semester, didn't you?"

"You don't actually need to know what you're doing in English and History." Finnick pointed out and she snorted.

"Well you need to put in the effort, and you definitely do. Don't let him talk himself down. He's the hardest worker I know." Annie said with a roll of her eyes, being very careful to cut the steak into tiny pieces so she wouldn't take too big of a bite and cause it to get lodged in her throat and restrict her airways and cause her to choke and she just say herself falling the ground again and again so she added a bit more force to her chopping. Her steak was on her main plate, and she had a bowl of mash potatoes on one side, and broccoli on the other, with exactly one ladle full of cheese sauce on the broccoli. She made sure to wipe her fork carefully and to alternate what was in front of her each time, so that it would mix because that was contaminating which was bad and made her feel uncomfortable even thinking about it.

"And exhibit A of why I like Annie, she knows how to stroke my ego." Finnick said, with a wink, and Annie felt her lips tug up into a smile.

For the rest of dinner, Finnick indulged her parents questions on where he was from (Florida), why he came to school at Panem U (he was recruited to come here, and just came to love the atmosphere), what his parents did (His mother was a doctor and his father was a real estate agent), did he have other siblings (two younger sisters named Brooke and Adrianne who were six and four respectively), how old he was (Twenty), and what sports teams he followed (his admittance of liking the Miami Heat might have certainly been the only thing her father disapproved of the entire night).

After that the entire family plus Ashley and Finnick sat in the living room and talked about normal things. Annie couldn't help but notice how happy it all seemed to make him, the total mundane nature of her family…well, for the exception of her. Ashely, having realized that she couldn't catch Finnick's attention announced she would be going home, and Kai who looked as pissed off as usual drove her back.

8:12.

Finnick got up, wiping his hands on his pants.

"Thank you so much for tonight but I think it's time I went home." He said, and Annie didn't want him to go but she had to start her routine if she was going to go to bed that night at a reasonable time because even though she knew what to do (onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, and then she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dry from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs and then she would go to bed) she had to give herself time to make mistakes so she could redo her ritual or else she would lay in bed as the mind-wasps stung her brain and refused to let her rest in peace and her father took Finnick's hand again in a firm shake, and to his obvious surprise Annie's mother hugged him, which he woodenly returned.

"Feel free to come over any time. I know that sometimes it's nice to get away from the college, and it's hard to get to Florida. A home cooked meal is always good for an athlete as well." Her mother told him gently, and Finnick looked touched.

"Thank you." He said honestly.

"I'll show him out." Annie said, and her family turned to start cleaning up as Annie showed him down the hall, letting him get his shoes and jacket and then opening the door and following him out. She was surprised by his lips on hers, the spontaneous passion that sent shivers of delight down her spine as he half-pressed her to the door, hips pressed flush against each other, little moans coming from both of them as Annie tugged at his hair and Finnick grasped her hips firmer.

They pulled back, both equally breathless as Annie leaned against the door for support.

"Tonight was…awesome." Finnick admitted after catching his breath, "Your family is perfect."

"It's far from perfect." Annie teased him before saying honestly, "But…it's alright. I wouldn't change a thing…except for my brother's attitude."

"Hey Annie?" Finnick asked and Annie blinked.

"What?" She said, and he gave her the most tender, loving smile she could imagine as his eyes lit with warmth and pure bliss.

"Have a good night. Sleep well." He wished her and she jumped up to kiss his cheek.

"Have a good night too. Drive safe." Annie said, and just as Finnick was halfway down the path to the drive way she called, "And, the offer is real. If you ever want to come over here, at all, you can."

"Alright!" Finnick called, waving his arm.

"Oh, and one more thing!" Annie said, gathering up her courage, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

Finnick pivoted, trying to turn around before tripping over his own feet and falling on his ass into the snow with a yelp. Annie laughed as she rushed over to him, where he was splayed out, making a snow angel as his face burned. He reached up and pulled her into a hug right there in the snow getting her totally wet and cold but Annie didn't mind one bit.

"Only if you'll be my girlfriend." Finnick teased.

Annie smiled.

* * *

**Aww. Too cute! My brain is overflowing with the fluff.**

**Hey, guess what? I managed to update! YAY!**

**I had a very successful swim meet, and end to my swimming season. Hopefully now it will be easier to update, though don't put too much hope in that. I am in college and I do have a lot of work.**

**The other thing you guys are all awesome. Every single one of you who review make me so happy in the heart place with all of your brilliantly wonderful reviews. I read every single one and reply, so what are you waiting for? Review and tell me what you think!**

**Also, in case you guys didn't know/wanted to be aware, a new companion fic for Adrift was posted by myself a little while ago. It's titled Devour, and if you're interested for something to read whilst waiting for my updates please go check out my Adriftverse series!**

**As always, until next time ~OMGitsgreen**


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